Floyd Mayweather has never beat a HOF/ATG in their Prime this is a fact

Most felt he beat Erik Morales. I thought he did. From there MAB went on a tear. 8 wins on a row, 4 by KO. He had his most comprehensive win against Hamed showing his improved boxing dimensions and beating a p4p ranked fighter. Avenged his "loss" to Erik and brutalized Kevin Kelly before getting starched by Manny in 2003. Most felt MAB was top 3 on the p4p rankings at that time. He was the favorite going in and very few gave PAC a chance to dethrone MAB.

Was MAB better in 2003 vs 2000? Absolutely. Which is why that win for PAC was such a massive accomplishment.

 

Yet years later pac agreed to those same tests to fight rios. Those same blood tests are pretty much standard today.

 

That title couldn’t be more spot on! A fact is a fact. I’m not saying Floyd’s record is not good, it is in fact really good BUT it is a smoke screen. He cherrypicked huge names that looks great on his record but these guys were over the hill. Even worst: the McGregor and Pacquiao fights had a script and were fixed.

 

Pure boxing skills? C'mon now.

 

Don't even bother rums...

 

Null and voided..

 

The same allegation could very easily made regarding Tyson Fury. Thoughts?

 

Good post. Don't forget that right after the Pacquiao loss, MAB then beat the tar out of Morales. I mean people can say he was in his prime in the 90's. But his only notable fight the entire decade was against McKinney. And he was beaten twice by Junior Jones. From 2000-2004 all MAB did was unleash a massive can of ass whipping upon the lower weight classes in boxing. Except for one fight. That one fight was against Pacquiao. He was at one point a dangerous fighter. He just met his ultimate stylistic mismatch in Manny Pacquiao. Once Pac took away that left hand with movement, MAB didn't have the power in the right to keep Pac honest. And from that point on, it was full steam ahead for Manny.

You see Morales and Marquez had that big power right coming right down the pike. And when that landed on Pac he knew Ok, **** is real I can't just blow through it.

 

I still whole heartedly disagree that Barrera was anything, but in his absolute prime. That said, you're entitled to your opinion and at least you have articulated well why you have it. Unlike some posters who just blabble on. That said, have you considered that perhaps both men thought that their best strategy in the rematch was to try and outbox the other? Morales actually improved his boxing skill following the Barrera fight. And I disagree that he lost something noticeable after the first fight. He looked remarkably quick and sharp in 2001 and 2002. As much as he ever was. Also, Barrera was robbed when he pressured Morales. Maybe he thought he could outbox him?

Also, as it pertains to 2nd bolded part the same can be said of Pacquiao from 2003/2004 compared to 2008/2009. Pacquiao was a more physically dominant fighter in 2003/2004 than he was in 2008/2009. How could he have been when he was moving up to an unnatural weight. And Marquez I and Morales I were extremely vicious/nasty wars. That doesn't mean he was past his prime though. The key is he still had most of his physical attributes, coupled with a slight improvement technically and you can point to Pac's prime being from 2003-2009.

Pac changed his style when he left 126 too. And following the Morales loss and Marquez draw. He began to realize that he couldn't just bang right through ATG's and HOF'ers with just the left hand anymore. Does that mean Pac was past his prime though in 2008 because he had to start using more right hooks and less full blown aggression? I think not.

 

I agree MAB and Morales were never the same after that first war, however I don't think they were lesser fighters because of it. Neither MAB or EM were p4p fighters before they met each other for the first time. Both at that time, were considered the typical Mexican bangers. It wasn't until after that war that they shed that stereotype and proved they had more depth as boxers in terms of their actual skills.

That fight prompted MAB and EM to add new wrinkles to their game. One of the best boxing clinics ever displayed was MAB's domination of Prince Naseem Hamed which was post Erik Morales. That was one of 8 wins in a row for MAB before losing to Manny.

After the MAB fight Erik went on a 5 or 6 fight win streak before facing MAB in a rematch that he lost..3 out of the 5 wins were by KO and after the MAB rematch went on a 6 fight win streak, 3 inside the distance.

Both EM and MAB were never the same after they encountered Manny. That's when they both took a dip in their performances inside the ring. Before Many...they both were p4p ranked boxers who were dominating their opponents

 

Good point. Erik Morales had a fight against Paulie Ayala 2 years after the Barrera war. And quite frankly, it was a boxing masterpiece. He had never displayed that type of boxing ability before the Barrera fight. Which is because he either didn't need/want to show he had it. Or he simply improved his skills after the first fight. I mean, it's one or the other.

 

I'm right there with you. MAB and EM to me were at the peak of their overall boxing abilities. They may have been less reckless and less willing to throw caution to the wind after their epic war....but they both became very affluent boxers who's skills were better than most of their competition at that time.

 

If you examine MAB's streak following the first Morales fight, you see the following fighters:

* Jesus Salud (On the slide)
* Kevin Kelley (On the slide)
* Naz (Great win, against a flawed by very talented foe)
* Jose Luis Valbuena (solid, though not spectacular challenger)
* Morales II (a fight that most observers thought should have been scored for EM)
* Johnny Tapia (On the slide)
* Enrique Sanchez (Solid but not spectacular)

Solid collection of guys...But a streak that does flatter to deceive somewhat. That's especially of the latter part of the run, which featured the dubious nod over Morales, and two past prime vets in Kelley and Tapia. Barrera was still capable of defeating the latter two, but didn't display the same form at that point that he did even against Hamed back in '01.

It's still a terrific win for Pac...But @Rumsfeld makes a point when he states that MAB may have already peaked prior to that fight.

 

Well, Pac was quite a bit younger at that point- and even taking into account that fight , along with JMM and to a lesser extant Sanchez hadn't been involved in quite as many life and death battles at that point in his career as MAB had. Easier to recover from abuse in your early to mid twenties than it is when you're pushing 30.