I don't have a huge issue with anyone who calls Floyd Mayweather Jr. the GOAT..

I applaud your intellectual flexibility, Magoo.

 

Sure Floyd's name could be mentioned in the discussion. But its not the strongest of arguments. Not a knock against Floyd but at that top echelon, many other ATG fighters have numerous accomplishments.

 

He lost to Castillo
'World title bouts' 'world champions', don't you mean ABC beltholders in a cherrypicking and weight-trumping era?
What win was at or near prime? The only worthy HOF's are Mosley, Pac, De La Hoya and Marquez - all being in bad condition
Genaro certainly isn't a future HOF. Floyd is a nightmare for Genaro's style, especially considering he was war-torn.
84-6, amazing but not 'great' amateur career

 

Gatti is in, too. Does this mean it's a legit HOF as we historically know? Of course not.

 

Goat my ass. What a crock of ****. Anyone who thinks floyd is goat is no better than a casual fan who started watching boxing last year and will stop next year.

 

But then you could look at Mayweather's 49 fights and look at Duran's first 49 fights and Floyd's resume ****es all over Roberto's.

I can't see the logic in your point about his loss to Hagler being better than any of Mayweather's wins, don't agree with that at all.

 

It would be like Floyd losing a close competitive battle against GGG. Even in his loss, it would be by far the best fighter he ever fought and at a weight class higher than he ever fought before. So if Floyd lost say 6-4 I would certainly consider it a better result than the vast majority of his fights. It would be better than beating an over the hill, injured Pac, better than dragging JMM up from lightweight, better than beating past primes SSM, Oscar, better than C+ B fighters such as Gatti, Baldomir, Berto

The logic is simple, quality over quantity, that's all you need to know. The quality of opposition in some cases is more important than the result.

Duran, a natural lightweight fought and beat the 2nd best welterweight ever, and fought and lost a close fight to a top 2-5 middleweight of all time.

 

Well I certainly don't rank Floyd as high as #1 or #2-5 of all time. Here's why:

There were great fighters who have fought better competition overall (Robinson, Leonard, Greb, Armstrong and others).

His 3 best pponents (Oscar, Pac and Marquez) weren't at their best. Oscar and Pac were clearly past prime, Marquez was a LW fighting WW.

Floyd was far from best as an offensive fighter - too low workrate, too little power in punches at WW and JMW, too rare combinations against top-level opponents.

On the other hand, I appreciate Floyd and he's undoubtly an ATG.

He most likely would've beaten Oscar and Pac prime4prime, and Marquez, too.

He's undefeated in 49 fights.

Beat very good fighters that were much bigger (Oscar, Canelo)

He has one of the best (if not the best) defensive skills of all time.

And he was one of the most consistent fighters of all time. The only time when he underperformed was IMO Maidana I, and he still won the fight.

If he fights and somehow beats MW king GGG in his 50th fight, I'd certainly rank him a few places higher in my list of ATGs.

 

With four sanctioning bodies plus the Ring and 17 divisions, there are currently 85 available world titles in boxing (not including all those stupid interim and super titles). So building Mayweather or anyone else up based on his record in "world title" fights and against "world champions" is completely meaningless. You'd be hard pressed to find any half decent fighter nowadays who hasn't been world champion.

He is a cherry picker, hasn't cleaned out a single division he's been in, and his resume is pretty thin for the ridiculous hype he gets. Who was the best prime fighter he actually beat?

 

How would Floyd's record look if he had to fight 45 times in the same year?

Still, Floyd is doubtless an All Time Great.

 

Many greats may in fact not have wins over prime greats, but many do--Robinson, Greb, Langford, Charles, Duran, Canzoneri, Ross, Ali, being a few examples. And Cotto and Alvarez may well enter the IBHOF one day, but in the most cement case of the two, I don't see Cotto as a "great" and don't see him as at his best when Mayweather handled him. That isn't to say that it isn't a damn good win, it is.

I do believe Mayweather is one of the greater fighters ever and one of the most naturally gifted men to enter the ring, but in my opinion, I don't see how one can glance at a guy like Greb's resume and then Mayweather's and think they are on par with another.