From June 1942 to February 1946 Jimmy Bivins went on an unbeaten 26 fight streak and beat Archie Moore, Ezzard Charles, Lee Savold, Bob Pastor, Melio Bettina, Lloyd Marshall, Anton Christoforidis, and Joey Maxim. Let's compare this to all of Mayweather's greatest victories. Pacquiao, De La Hoya, Alvarez, Cotto, Mosley, Marquez, Castillo, Corrales, Hernandez. He spread these over 17 years and 30 fights. Besides Bivins' undefeated streak, I was thinking about certain fighters who fought hundreds of bouts and might have racked up an impressive list of victories perhaps even in excess of Mayweather's in spite of any blemishes on their record. Take Emile Griffith who beat Dick Tiger x2, Nino Benvenuti, Luis Rodriguez x3, Benny Paret x2, Gaspar Ortega x2, Benny Brisco, Holly Mims, Florentino Fernandez, Ralph Dupas x2, and Joey Archer x2. Surely, that's equivalent to what Mayweather accomplished. He just didn't do it undefeated.
We can't compare fights back then to today. Boxers today focus and train on a higher level and fight much less often.
Just that run on its own? Yeah probably. Take into account his whole career, he didn't prove he was better than any of them, he just picked up wins in series
Bivins tended to dominate these guys while in his own prime, he suffered a brain injury in the military and only then did he start to lose the odd bout and series. Now he did enjoy a weight advantage in most of these early bouts, and things tended to even out as Charles, Moore, and Maxim caught up with him in the size department. It's just not as black and white as some like to think. People emphasize the importance of prime so much for choice favorites but tend to throw that out the window when examining a less popular guy like Bivins. It should be noted that Bivins was simultaneously recognized as interm Light Heavy and Heavyweight Champion, while one could argue he likely wouldn't have beaten Louis had he not been serving, he beat the breaks off reigning LHW Champion Gus Lesnevich in a non-title bout. It was so bad Lew Diamond said that "Gus would never be in the ring with Bivins again."
Most of those guys probably didn't take a couple of months off since their last fight. Fights were much more frequent then.
No it isn’t better. Floyd beat the top guys from several different eras. Genero was one of the top 130s of the 90s. Chico and Castillo ran 130/135 in the early 2000s. Hatton ran 140. Mosley and Oscar were ran 147 in the early 2000s but Floyd got them late. Cotto/Pac/Marquez/Berto/Ortiz/Guerrero/Maidana were the late 2000s/ early teens era. Canelo is the current era.
Berto, Ortiz, Guerrero, Maidana all are far from elite, neither was #1 in any division they boxed at any point of their careers. Mosley was shot like hell. Hatton's run was very short and he had that run only due to Kostya getting older.
Mosley was ring pfp 3 and lineal at 147. Hatton was prime and well above average as a champ. The guys you named at 147 all were titlists and ranked highly (except Berto who was past it but was a farewell fight). They support my point but don’t prove it.
It's not like Bivins was getting adequate rest either, he was fighting just as frequently as anyone else and still beating everyone.
Mosley was ranked after his impressive win over Margarito, but he was nearing 40, having 16 months lay off, and his prime ended when Forrest beat him twice, that was like 8-9 years before May-Mosley has occured.
