Floyd Mayweather takes swipe at Muhammad Ali while ranking greatest boxers

Ali is nowhere near Mayweather.

You are entitled to put guys like the Suga Man, Duran, Pep, Greb, Armstrong and Langford above Mayweather.
Maybe even guys like SRL and Pacquiao. But that's about it.

 

Why?

 

Don't be stupid

 

I'm just pointing out the truth.
A guy that has been champ in 5 divisions, beat countless world champs and has never been beaten is far superior to Ali.

 

I said DONT be stupid

 

You take cultural relevance into account, yet you don't have Ali above Mayweather? what a clown.

 

I was only talking about boxing skills here.
If we are talking about greatness, than I agree that Ali is overall above Mayweather due to his amazing impact on the sport.

 

Spin.

Ali was the very best in his division. The only lucrative division available to him given his size.

Mayweather is not the greatest in any division he boxed in and his best wins do not compare with Ali's.

 

Please do tell what makes Ali's wins superior ?!?
Some of the guys Ali fought/beat might be more famous, but that does not make them better boxers.

 

Ali beat Foreman, SJF, and Liston. All top 20 all-time heavyweights in their primes.

Mayweather's best wins are over a past-it Cotto, an injured and ageing Pac, and an inexperienced Canelo.

 

You could apply that same logic to Ali: his best wins are against a injured and aging Liston, an inexperienced Foreman and a past it Frazier.

 

This is lazy and you can do it with any boxer

 

Hold on a minute there-I agree with the principle that you can selectively deride anyone's record.
And how valid the critiques are are open for debate.
But some points one makes are not at all credible.
For example, labeling Foreman "inexperienced" when he fought Ali.
He won the Olympic Gold Medal in 1968.
In two of his last 3 fights before facing Ali he beat great fighters with very different styles, Frazier & Norton.
He was pro for well over 5 years before the Rumble in the Jungle.

Mainly, he was 40-0 with 37 KO's when he fought Ali.
This was not an inexperienced fighter.

Maybe we should have a thread about what fights Maywether may have deserved to lose or get a draw in.
But as above, Floyd's critique of Ali by divisions is not rational.
First off, Ali won Olympic Gold in Rome at their LHW, up to 178.
Also how can you denigrate a fighter who would have to starve himself & dehydrate to possibly reach 175?
There was no CW division then, & anyway beating the better fighter in absolute terms is more impressive than strategically riding divisions?

And when you consider how great a fighter is, should not some consideration be given to how good a man is against all prospective comers?
Ali for years could have beaten any man in the world in a boxing match.
Floyd would have lost to countless fighters, at least above MW.

 

When was Liston's prime? You do know that his previous fight was an utterly dominant 1st round KO over the 1st 2x HW champion? Injured? He injured himself during the fight because he kept swinging at air. Doctors have spoken on this in documentaries.

Foreman was not inexperienced. He was an undisputed champion and a hulking undefeated slugger with 40 pro fights who beat 2 of the best boxers in his division and won a gold medal. Hardly comparable to Canelo who had mostly cab drivers and bouncers on his record due to Mexico's tendency to have their fighters go pro early. There were no Norton's or fraziers or even Chuvalo calibre fighters on caneloss resume up to that point.

Frazier only had 1 loss and was still KOing top contenders when Ali beat him so no he was not washed up. Ali certainly didn't act like a diva waiting 5 years to get Frazier in the ring like Floyd did with Pacquiao (i blame both of them but that's another story). Ali had 2 measly tune ups before the 1st meeting.

Ali has quality AND quantity on his record. Easily one of the top 10 resumes of all time. Floyd just has quantity with only a little bit of quality sprinkled here and there. Part of it is his own fault as I covered in my first post in this thread. He COULD have been TBE or at least top 10 of all time if he pushed himself more.

 

I think he really was all about the money. But hey, lots of people are like that, hard to hold it against him too much.

It's just that I never saw that passion from Floyd that I saw in Iron Mike's eyes in his prime, or Leonard in the early 80s. Robinson and LaMotta. That love for the sport that would have driven him to push himself further. That's why I don't see him as a top 10 ATG, though due to his accomplishments and unblemished record (on paper he is undefeated, despite the loss he suffered that we all know about) he's imo unquestionably top 20.