Floyd Mayweather's legacy? -------

[NYDominican]

Granted, Floyd Mayweather's professional boxing career is still intact. Still going on.


Hypothetical. ----- Say, Floyd fights for several more years. Remains undefeated.


How do you think Floyd should rank all time?


Why?



Do you think Floyd should rank among the very top boxers in boxings "Pound for Pound" category?


If so, why?

[birdman77]

All-time great: To real boxing experts and purists -- yes. To armchair idiots -- no, not ever. Everyone says he avoided Pacman. I don't buy that too much. Floyd is...a brat now with his massive wealth, but above that he is a business man and a great one at that. He wants to have everything his way -- the weight, the venue, the larger purse winnings, the blood testing, the size of gloves, the length of socks, etc. I don't think Pacman could have ever beat him based on Floyd's speed and based on the fact that I've seen pacman shut down in exchanges with the *less-than all-time great Marquez* so how bad could Floyd shut down the 2 inch shorter, slower, and shorter-armed Pacman? I think over the course of the fight Pacman would have a few rounds with less than 25% landed punches -- while getting cleanly countered. Keep in mind I despise Floyd because of his pretentious manners and how he racially denigrated Pacman (and others, certainly, right? )

However I can't take anything from the man in the squared ring. Less than 3 - 4 of his nearly 50 fights were very close at all. Most guys at least get caught once or twice and dropped. Has he ever been cleanly knocked down? has he even been knocked down once? Has anyone looked comfortable with him over 12 rounds? Can anyone in his weight class beat him, even at 36 (the same age as myself) !!

Sorry, but I don't see him losing a fight & retiring undefeated. GGG could not catch him, I promise you that. Sergio could not either at this juncture (BTW, that would have been a MUCH closer fight than Pacman ever would have been). Who else? Erislandy Lara? Not sure he's quite fast enough -- even though I am a HUGE fan of lara. What about Bradley? Nope, too slow and without a knockout punch. Alexander - see Bradley analysis above. Khan? Haha. Garcia? Too slow.

To wrap up and to quote Mike Tyson immediately before the Canelo fight: you at least have to say Floyd is the best of his generation. then, and only then, you start to consider his body of work. As awesome as Sweet Pea was, he had several losses. I always thought Pernell would be the GREATEST at his respective weight class but Floyd is slightly better (and I hate to admit that honestly). Like Joe Calzaghe, who also retired undefeated, he will not be without his critics. But the truth is this: no one really came close to beating him either. Hopkins was in survival mode late (not for fear of knockout, but for fear of losing his chance at other title shots) and he made the fight UGLY. Had Hopkins not employed some less-than-ideal strategies it would have been even more one-sided. You can only fight the guys in front of you in the ring and very few fighter retire undefeated regardless of the era they fight. See Lennox Lewis, Larry Holmes, Ray Leonard, Hagler, Dempsey, Ali, Foreman, etc.

[gilgamesh]

He's definitely an all time great and has earned a ranking in the Top 25 or Top 30 P4P of all time at the very least. He could still climb higher before it's all said and done. We'll see where he goes from here.

[dnahar32]

I think Floyd is great and I don't mean to denigrate that. But I think he is a product of an era of boxing with less schooling and technique while he has that schooling and technique. As he says, Skills pays the bills, and skill wise he is far advanced in this generation. However, I think that in comparison with all-time greats, the question of competition has to be raised and whether or not you feel he could beat Pacquaio, you have to fight your defining rival. SRL fought Hearns, Duran fought DeJesus multiple times, etc. Pacquaio would force Floyd to fight 3 minutes of every round and with few exceptions Floyd's opponents do not do that. They are lulled by Floyd's defensive traps and they wait to engage and Floyd salts away the rounds with his accurate punching. I think, with the lack of quality boxers now and the dearth of good trainers, there is a ceiling for greatness in boxers today and I can never consider Floyd the greatest at any weight or even in the Top 5.

[thunderfromdownunder]

I agree with the Martinez statement, I still think 3-4 years ago Martinez would have beaten Floyd at 154. We'll never know though.
all time he ranks anywhere from 20-30 I'd say

[SamWise72]

As awesome as Sweet Pea was, he had several losses. I always thought Pernell would be the GREATEST at his respective weight class but Floyd is slightly better (and I hate to admit that honestly).

I really disagree with this. Pea never lost legitimately at his real weight categories; he was robbed against both Ramirez and Chavez, both of whom were better than anyone Floyd has faced. Likewise Buddy McGirt and Nelson. Floyd hasn't had the opportunities to beat the opposition that Pea did, and he hasn't taken the opportunities he has had. At lightweight, Duran and Sweet Pea are beating Floyd, at Super Feather Nelson and Chavez would likely have beaten him too. The best of his generation, but doesn't have the legacy he could have, and would have gone undefeated in an earlier era.

[tommo100]

it pains me to say it but I don`t think chavez beats Floyd at any weight or at any time,though I agree with you that sweet pea would have beaten him,pea was robbed twice and his other losses were against much bigger men in their prime(tito and Oscar)you wouldn't have got Floyd anywhere near a prime tito and he only faced Oscar when he was shot,even then he was behind on points only for Oscar to gas and stop fighting down the stretch

[dempseyfire]

I think Floyd is great and I don't mean to denigrate that. But I think he is a product of an era of boxing with less schooling and technique while he has that schooling and technique. As he says, Skills pays the bills, and skill wise he is far advanced in this generation. However, I think that in comparison with all-time greats, the question of competition has to be raised and whether or not you feel he could beat Pacquaio, you have to fight your defining rival. SRL fought Hearns, Duran fought DeJesus multiple times, etc. Pacquaio would force Floyd to fight 3 minutes of every round and with few exceptions Floyd's opponents do not do that. They are lulled by Floyd's defensive traps and they wait to engage and Floyd salts away the rounds with his accurate punching. I think, with the lack of quality boxers now and the dearth of good trainers, there is a ceiling for greatness in boxers today and I can never consider Floyd the greatest at any weight or even in the Top 5.

Good post. Floyd has ATG skills but in deeper eras he would have some Ls on that record and his skill level would've not stood out like it does now. The fact that his fight with Alvarez, a guy who just 30 years ago would've been an ESPN headliner and not sniffed a world title, was some big PPV event shows the dearth of quality Floyd has enjoyed feasting on. I was watching film recently of two largely forgotten lightweights of the 1950s in Virgil Akins and Freddie Dawson. Those two were so superior to Floyd's competition in terms of skills and durability/endurance it just blows your mind. Both of them had many losses and I could easily see both of them at their best beating Mayweather.

I think top 30-40 is fitting for Floyd.

[King Carlos]

All-time great: To real boxing experts and purists -- yes. To armchair idiots -- no, not ever. Everyone says he avoided Pacman. I don't buy that too much. Floyd is...a brat now with his massive wealth, but above that he is a business man and a great one at that. He wants to have everything his way -- the weight, the venue, the larger purse winnings, the blood testing, the size of gloves, the length of socks, etc. I don't think Pacman could have ever beat him based on Floyd's speed and based on the fact that I've seen pacman shut down in exchanges with the *less-than all-time great Marquez* so how bad could Floyd shut down the 2 inch shorter, slower, and shorter-armed Pacman? I think over the course of the fight Pacman would have a few rounds with less than 25% landed punches -- while getting cleanly countered. Keep in mind I despise Floyd because of his pretentious manners and how he racially denigrated Pacman (and others, certainly, right? )

However I can't take anything from the man in the squared ring. Less than 3 - 4 of his nearly 50 fights were very close at all. Most guys at least get caught once or twice and dropped. Has he ever been cleanly knocked down? has he even been knocked down once? Has anyone looked comfortable with him over 12 rounds? Can anyone in his weight class beat him, even at 36 (the same age as myself) !!

Sorry, but I don't see him losing a fight & retiring undefeated. GGG could not catch him, I promise you that. Sergio could not either at this juncture (BTW, that would have been a MUCH closer fight than Pacman ever would have been). Who else? Erislandy Lara? Not sure he's quite fast enough -- even though I am a HUGE fan of lara. What about Bradley? Nope, too slow and without a knockout punch. Alexander - see Bradley analysis above. Khan? Haha. Garcia? Too slow.

To wrap up and to quote Mike Tyson immediately before the Canelo fight: you at least have to say Floyd is the best of his generation. then, and only then, you start to consider his body of work. As awesome as Sweet Pea was, he had several losses. I always thought Pernell would be the GREATEST at his respective weight class but Floyd is slightly better (and I hate to admit that honestly). Like Joe Calzaghe, who also retired undefeated, he will not be without his critics. But the truth is this: no one really came close to beating him either. Hopkins was in survival mode late (not for fear of knockout, but for fear of losing his chance at other title shots) and he made the fight UGLY. Had Hopkins not employed some less-than-ideal strategies it would have been even more one-sided. You can only fight the guys in front of you in the ring and very few fighter retire undefeated regardless of the era they fight. See Lennox Lewis, Larry Holmes, Ray Leonard, Hagler, Dempsey, Ali, Foreman, etc.

Up until that last paragraph I'd say I agreed, for the most part. Then you blew it.

[Ezzard]

As awesome as Sweet Pea was, he had several losses. I always thought Pernell would be the GREATEST at his respective weight class but Floyd is slightly better (and I hate to admit that honestly).

I really disagree with this. Pea never lost legitimately at his real weight categories; he was robbed against both Ramirez and Chavez, both of whom were better than anyone Floyd has faced. Likewise Buddy McGirt and Nelson. Floyd hasn't had the opportunities to beat the opposition that Pea did, and he hasn't taken the opportunities he has had. At lightweight, Duran and Sweet Pea are beating Floyd, at Super Feather Nelson and Chavez would likely have beaten him too. The best of his generation, but doesn't have the legacy he could have, and would have gone undefeated in an earlier era.

I'm not sure Ramirez was better than anyone Floyd has faced. And the welterweight Chavez was nowhere near great. Nelson was not a great lightweight either.

Whittaker is not unlike Mayweather. An amazing talent with a good to very good resume. I think Whittaker would beat him though...in fact I'm pretty sure.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I'm quite positive that Ramirez wasn't better than anyone Floyd has faced. That's utter nonsense.