Now Floyd Mayweather has "retired"...

Yeah, Mayweather's achievements are legitimate. But the specific statistics people often list are a bit misleading.

He's done a lot in his career largely through his great longevity. In truth in really is time for him to retire for good, maybe he's cleverer than we all think and he actually means it ... ?? ...
:huh Nah, but the money ... Pacquiao II ... 2016.

 

There used to be a time when winning titles in three weight division was a great accomplishment. Now, it's nothing special.

 

That's true, but maybe he could not have been effective at a legit same-day-weigh-in 130 and 135.
Yes, he might well have managed 3 old school divisions with 1 title in each, definitely possible with the years he's been campaigning at the top level.

 

I said fighters who won titles in three divisions. Duran and co all meet that description, they just went on to win more than three. Tbh I don't know why you'd make such a big deal out of what was obviously a facetious remark. It's like saying Golota threw about 500 low blows against Bowe. It's an exaggeration but the point stands that he did throw a lot of low blows.

Anyway, in 90+ years four men won titles in three divisions, five if you count Griffith (not many do). Since 1980 over thirty fighters have matched that feat, mainly because world titles are now so much easier to come by. So yes the accomplishment is diluted.

 

He was the #1 fighter in the world at 130 for 3 years from 1998 to 2001.

He was lightweight champion for 2 years until 2004.

Then he was a light-welter for about 1 year, not sure if he was ever the #1 fighter.

Then he moved up to welterweight had 3 fights in a year, winning the title and retired, 2006-2007.

I suppose we could say he's been proven the best welter in the world again since 2012 or 2013 (when he won the title again), so that's another 2 or 3 years.

So, over the last 16 or 17 years he's probably been the #1 man in a division for 9 of those years. And it wasn't like he was getting beat in those other years, just coasting along or in a retirement.

 

I've made the same observation myself and frankly I don't think anyone has ever been rated p4p best longer by any accredited source.

 

He was temporarily absent from the game from 08-09 during which time he was out of the rankings. But yes. 8 years at #1 and like 15 or 16 years at top 10 is virtually unheard of. Especially when you consider that for part of that time period he shared boxing with such names as Roy Jones, Oscar Delahoya, Manny Pac, Lennox Lewis, Bernard Hopkins, etc, etc..

 

interesting but some valid points

 

He also easily beat the second most prominent pfp guy of the same period

Edit: easily beat Marquez too, who was probably top 5 for that period.

 

Regardless of whatever criticisms one may have, valid or otherwise, Floyd Mayweather is a legitimate ATG by every standard. We can talk all day about how he never jumped two weight classes to fight Andre Ward, or three weight classes to Kovalev, or Klitscko or the fact that he didn't meet EVERY single challenger with even so much as a heart beat or didn't fight until he was near 50, but the man did far more than most people we can think of.

 

Yeah, I can remember how everyone scoffed at his "slave wages" comment and blew off his chance of moving up and beating De La Hoya. Funny how things turned out.

He also improved the norms for drug testing.

 

I remember some people giving Alvarez a real shot at him. And when Floyd took him to school all of a sudden we heard " canelo was too green." I mean seriously? A guy who's 43-0 with two world titles and a top 10 p4p rating is somehow too inexperienced.. It also apparently evaded those same people that Floyd was 12 years canelo's senior and moving up In weight. But like always and for whatever reason, the onus was always placed on Floyd to constantly move up, face younger men who were more active and when he won, take the process a step further.. If these same fans were to judge Floyd's predecessor greats by the same standards then think of all the magnificent fights we missed !!! How about Ray Robinson vs ezzard Charles or Marvin hagler vs Michael Spinks?

 

But who was Canelo's best win? Trout? Hatton? Rhodes?