Holyfield says Mayweather cannot claim he has beaten everyone because he has never unified all the titles in any of those divisions.
"My whole thing [is this], he is a great fighter. But to actually say that [he's beaten everyone], you've got to be the undisputed," Holyfield said, according to BS. "You need to get all the belts at one time and let everybody know that I beat everybody who had a belt and I am undisputed.
"You can't just say 'I got this WBC belt, I got this WBC belt and I got this WBC belt,' and all of them are WBCs and you don't got the rest of the belts to say you are undisputed."
"That was five guys who took the time and said 'I don't just want to be one of the champions - I want to be undisputed where everyone knows at that time that I was the very best. That's the only thing that Floyd is missing, because he was never the undisputed world champion in any weight division."
Evander Holyfield’s claim is technically correct, but surely even he knows that boxing politics, the promoters, the TV networks, commercial viability and also the mind-sets of the sports main governing bodies must be aligned like the earth, the sun and the moon whenever there is a total solar eclipse, which is an extremely rare event.
I think his thinly-veiled agenda for this claim is to indirectly boast about one of his own finest accomplishments by drawing an unfair comparison between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and himself.
Put it this way, when Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeated Manny Pacquiao on the 2nd May, 2015, he held the WBA, WBC & WBO world welterweight titles. At that moment in time, he was also in possession of the WBA Super world welterweight title that he’d captured from his bout against Canelo.
On that date, Kell Brook (universally rated below Pacquiao by the media) held the IBF version of the only main title at 147lbs that Money May didn’t already own, with the Brit having never having never previously scored a clear-cut victory over any world-rated welterweight (even the pundits from both the main UK boxing channels believed that he deserved to lose his bout against Shawn Porter).
Simply put: there was no real motivation for Money May to face Kell Brook in 2015, because the Brit wasn’t a big name back then, even in his own country. Nobody wanted to see this fight, so it was never going to happen.
As a side note, come to think of it, has Kell Brook ever scored a clear-cut decisive victory over any world-class opponent, since the outcome of the Shawn Porter bout was moderately controversial? I don’t believe that any of his other opponents (whom he defeated) were universally considered genuine top-ten world-rated 147lb-ers on the date he fought them.
For the record, I’m not saying Kell’s rubbish, but his resume (in terms of the calibre of opponents’ he has emerged victorious against) is pretty darn weak.
I don't think Mayweather liked the IBF or WBO. Won the IBF 147 belt from Judah and didn't defend it. Won the WBO title from Pacman and didn't pay the sanc fees..
I think there is a reason he didn't become Undisputed. He chose not to. He was a picky fighter.
Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑09 Jan 2018, 09:49
I don't think Mayweather liked the IBF or WBO. Won the IBF 147 belt from Judah and didn't defend it. Won the WBO title from Pacman and didn't pay the sanc fees..
I think there is a reason he didn't become Undisputed. He chose not to. He was a picky fighter.
I agree about Floyd being “a picky fighter”, because he was only interested in facing the highest bidder, which is not an unreasonable approach to adopt when competing in a professional sport where its combatants are commonly known as “PRIZE fighters” rather than “PRIDE fighters”.
Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑09 Jan 2018, 09:49
I don't think Mayweather liked the IBF or WBO. Won the IBF 147 belt from Judah and didn't defend it. Won the WBO title from Pacman and didn't pay the sanc fees..
I think there is a reason he didn't become Undisputed. He chose not to. He was a picky fighter.
I agree about Floyd being “a picky fighter”, because he was only interested in facing the highest bidder, which is not an unreasonable approach to adopt when competing in a professional sport where its combatants are commonly known as “PRIZE fighters” rather than “PRIDE fighters”.
His goal was to make the most money possible. He did just that.. nothing wrong with that. Boxing was his job as well as it being a sport. He did it to get paid. Let's not deny, he made fellow boxers rich.
Everyone he fough earned career high purses. They ain't complaining.
Maidana fought so well in the first, they did a rematch were he clearly lost. He earned so much in both fights he retired happily.
Holyfield says Mayweather cannot claim he has beaten everyone because he has never unified all the titles in any of those divisions.
"My whole thing [is this], he is a great fighter. But to actually say that [he's beaten everyone], you've got to be the undisputed," Holyfield said, according to BS. "You need to get all the belts at one time and let everybody know that I beat everybody who had a belt and I am undisputed.
"You can't just say 'I got this WBC belt, I got this WBC belt and I got this WBC belt,' and all of them are WBCs and you don't got the rest of the belts to say you are undisputed."
"That was five guys who took the time and said 'I don't just want to be one of the champions - I want to be undisputed where everyone knows at that time that I was the very best. That's the only thing that Floyd is missing, because he was never the undisputed world champion in any weight division."
Thoughts?
In a certain way i agree with him but lets not forget,floyd has fought virtually everyone of any note in and around his weight class,he even moved out of his comfort zone and fought ODLH and canelo at their own weight class at that time. Im not a big fan of floyd as a person but as a fighter? He is the one of,if not the best of the last 40 years
This basically amounts to Holyfield being like "I mean yeah he good, but he ain't as good as me" kinda thing. Not a meaningful statement in my opinion, just like Mayweather's statements regarding the young talent of today isn't really relevant. Sour grapes, and missing the limelight seems to be what it amounts to.
