The crazy thing about the "trickery" is Ali "tricked" Angelo Dundee, Bundini Brown, Sandy Saddler, and Archie Moore. Together they had nearly one hundred and seventy five years or so of boxing experience. If the movie "Ali" is to be believed Don King wasn't "tricked" nor was Tony Sheridan who was calling the fight.
Boxing is absolutely full of huge fights that never happen or don't happen when they should have. It's difficult to see why Floyd critics would obsess over him not fighting Pacquiao earlier when so many huge fights don't ever materialize or do so too late. Holyfield should have faced Lewis by 1996 Duran should have fought Hearns in 1980 Leonard should have fought Hagler in 1982 Robinson should have fought Burley, Williams etc Moreover Mayweather was already fighting above his best weight and probably past prime or at least nearing the end of his prime by the time this took place
Yes, there’s been lots of big fights that never materialised. Some of them had valid reasons why. Some not so much. This one however, was the biggest grossing fight in history, between the best 2 P4P fighters in the world. Fighting at the same time, in the same weight class, against the same opponents. It was a huge miss. And it was there to be made.
Beating the pfp 2 when you're the 1 still counts as beating the best fighter in the sport other than yourself, bud.
Really? You mean in the top 10 P4P? Or within his weight class? Mike was a genius. Many people had him beating Toney.
I guess Mike "came close" in the literal sense against Toney, but he didn't come close in terms of his actual wins. Also, Muhammed Ali.
Okay. A surprising twist in the thread. What is your point? What were the P4P rankings of the time? Floyd may have those stats, but he never fought a prime ATG. And deep down, you know that. Corrales isn’t an ATG. Nobody but you believes that Canelo was in his prime against Floyd. Canelo was in his prime between the back end of his MW reign, and his early move up to SMW.
In the scheme of things though Pacquiao wasn't a great welterweight and probably didn't belong in the weight class to begin with where he was badly outsized. If Pacquiao was such a great welterweight why did he lose to a near 40 year old Marquez who did nothing at the weight other than beat Pacquiao?