How many fighters were truly seen as "best of their generation" in history?

Originally posted this in general, but probably a better thread here.

Ignoring all the horse **** that Pacquaio fans are throwing around the forum at the moment, Mayweather Jr can rightfully say he is definitively "the best" in his generation of fighting, the other long serving champions he's either beaten (Pacquaio, Marquez, Mosley, ODLH) or don't have the career/boxing credibility he has ( Klitschko brothers )

If we consider generation to be 15 year blocks and say Floyd was definitively the best from 2000-2015, how many other fighters would be viewed in the same way?

2000-2015 - Floyd
1985-2000 - Tyson / Jones Jr / Lewis
1970 - 1985 - Tyson / Ali / SRL / Hagler
1955 - 1970 - Sugar Ray Robinson / Ali / Marciano ?
1940 - 1955 - Sugar Ray Robinson?
1925 - 1940 - Joe Louis?
1910 - 1925 - Jack Johnson

Not very many eras have a definitive best fighter when you think about it.

 

The Sugar Ray Robinson era changed that though, that was when people realised the best technician and all round fighter wasn't a HW anymore.

I'm a huge fan of the Klitchskos, I have both of them H2H beating just about any other heavyweight in history due to their size, strength and abilities, but you can't give Wlad the nod over Floyd because of the knock out losses he suffered against pretty substandard competition. Vitali is a more interesting case, but ultimately Wlad has had the better career.

I've used 15 year chunks because that's about the length of most careers.

 

P4P only takes into account how their year went - in the case of a fighter like Bernard Hopkins, he might have been P4P #1 in 2002 - but no one would ever say he was the best fighter even if we took his career prime.

I much prefer looking at entire career periods - it gives a more accurate answer as to who the best is.

 

Ole ODLH, the guy who legitimately faced every great fighter of his generation and the generation before, no question around who he faced.

Problem is, while DLH might have fought the best (and to be honest, I don't think it applies to Floyd any longer that he didn't fight the best) - DLH has a decidedly average record against HOF fighters.

Sure, when they first met and fought, DLH had the much better resume of who he had faced, but since then, if you're impartial, you can't really say Floyd hasn't matched that.

Reality is, Alvarez, Marquez, Pacquaio, DLH, Mosley, Hernandez, Corrales, JLC, Judah, Gatti, Cotto, Hatton are all going to be HoF fighters.

Guerrero and Maidana are a tier below but are both equally strong fighters.

The difference between Floyd and pretty much anyone else who has fought as many Ring Ranked Fighters and P4P#10 is the fact that he's done so without the blip on his record.

Even JLC1, reality is I scored that 114-112 in favour of Floyd. (115-113 without penalties) as did quite a few others, 113-113 was an acceptable score also, (114-114 can't happen, when both fighters have point deductions under the 10 point must)

So, I'd prefer to look at chunks/proportions of time - anyone trying to dispute that anyone who crossed over with Mayweather in terms of career had a better career than him can't really be taken seriously.