Who should Floyd have fought

It was after being out of the ring for over a year and undergoing knee surgery that really softened Martinez up for cotto. That and he was around 38 by the time he returned

 

It takes 2 to tango and Manny didn't want that fight.

 

Freitas
Casamayor
Mosley at 135
Kostya Tszyu
Margarito
Williams
Pac in 09/10
Wright

 

You can't fight everyone - plus a lot of times I think it was the opponent, rather than Floyd, who was not very eager for the fight to happen, but He certainly missed out on some good fights.
At Super Featherweight, He didn't fight Casamayor or Freitas.
Freitas was always tricky for boxers due to his athlethicism, so it would be interesting to see how Floyd could deal with him. Casamayor being a Cuban southpaw would also be potential banana skin. First prime, World Class southpaw Floyd fought was Zab Judah - so He went quite a long time without testing himself against quality left handers.

At lightweight, Stevie Johnston was still there as one of the top contenders after Floyd took the title from Castillo. Another potentially difficult style clash. Paul Spadafora was there too, although I never rated him that highly, plus it was Paul who turned down a chance to fight Floyd.

At Super Lightweight, young Hatton and Cotto were good fights to make (Although the feeling at the time was that it were those two, rather than Floyd, who were not to eager to make those fights happen).

At Welterweight, there were quite a few. Paul Williams and Antonio Margarito in the early stage, before the first retirement. Then, in the second Welterweight run - Floyd never fought any of the best up and comers. Bradley, Thurman, Garcia, Brook, even Porter - They would all be more challenging opponent than the guys that Floyd was, quite frankly, cherry-picking at this stage of his career.

154 and above, I never had any expectations anyway. Floyd was a small welterweight, I didn't think it was fair to expect him to fight Lara, Sergio Martinez or Triple G(Who, as I remembered expressed willingness to fight Floyd at 154 limit).

 

He clearly should of fought Khan. Khan was on a good run, posed stylistic match up issues and was very popular. British American bouts always do well, just look at the bonanza that was Hatton vs Floyd. Floyd even held a poll of fighters to face for his 49th pro bout and Khan won the poll overwhelmingly. Instead Floyd gave us Berto, which nobody cared about.

Would of been nice to see Floyd mix it up with many of the names mentioned on this thread, Tszyu, Williams, Margarito, Martinez but I wouldn't say they were ducks, but it's clear to anyone that follows the sport- Floyd was about maximizing financials and not facing the best when it mattered most.

 

Williams was never on the table. He beat Margarito and lost his next fight, Floyd went on hiatus before Williams won the rematch, and Williams never returned to 147. It’s one of many myths about fights that didn’t happen for Floyd. Floyd was already locked in to fight Hatton by the time Williams won a belt too.

 

I have often wanted to know this as well.

I have heard so many claims over the years he ducked many fighters or purposely fought them late.

 

And I thought he would be an easy win for Floyd after he scraped by a couple opponents and barely survived Chavez.

 

What he did is actually really simple, and it happened in phases:
1. He made a name for himself by beating the best fighters available.
2. He finally landed the Oscar fight and became a major star, and then took the biggest money fights available.

He also had a bad split with Arum and that affected his choices of opponents.

 

Floyd could've fought him instead of Hatton and it would've been a better fight - and since the topic is about fighters that Floyd should've fought, I don't see how We should take his break from boxing as something that was inevitable. It was a decision He made, just like You can make a decision not to take a given fight. He could've fought Williams rather than do WWE or whatever He was doing in 2008-2009, if He wanted to.

 

If it"s something that's historic revisionism, then it is to suggest that it wasn't DLH who was the A-side and decided who to fight and when.

 

Hey, maybe he should have moved up and fought Klitschko. What a complete ducker

 

Hatton was a big fight that was already planned. There was a zero percent chance of him cancelling that. Williams lost to Quintana, Floyd stepped out due to injuries, and Williams beat Quintana and moved up. Saying Floyd should’ve fought Williams w bad hands at 154 instead of taking a year or two off isn’t the same as Floyd ducking.

 

For me, I focus on fights that could have actually enhanced his legacy. Not just any name that was around that Floyd didn’t so happen to fight. For example, people mention Paul Williams and I don’t view that fight as it enhancing Floyd’s legacy. Why? Paul Williams was only champion once. He beat Margarito which was a good win for him but in his next fight, he lost to Quintana. Then he beats Quintana to get the belt back, never defends it and moves up. Then he never becomes champion again. Had the opportunity against Sergio but was slept. I think that fight is more of an interesting fight to see rather than a legacy enhancing fight. People wanted to see how Floyd would beat someone that much taller and longer than him. So for me, these are the fight that I think he should have taken to enhance his legacy:

1. Pacquiao in 2010-2012. I’m not getting into who ducked who. Why the fight took so long to happen. The bottom line is both were the two top guys in boxing in the same weight class for years and didn’t fight each other when the people wanted to see it.

2.Timothy Bradley- Floyd gets some heat from the black community for not fighting black fighters. They throw out every black fighter that was around (Porter, Thurman, Alexander, etc) to say he avoided them. Bradley IMO was by far the most worthy. He was a P4P guy for years. They were in the same weight class for years. Bradley actually had a hall of fame career. I think it should have happened in 2013-2015.

3.Kell Brook 2015- This is honestly because Brook had the last belt that Floyd didn’t have. People bring up Floyd never being undisputed. That ends that talk if he fight Brook instead of Berto.

4.Sergio Martinez- I think this would have been the type of fight that truly put him in the upper echelon of all time greats. It’s a dangerous fight for sure but I think it’s winnable. It’s not a suicide mission. Martinez wasn’t the biggest middleweight and he had noticeable flaws. I think if Floyd takes the middleweight title off of him, the narrative that he didn’t take risks ends.

For me, if Floyd is a 6 division champion, 6 time lineal champion, undisputed at 147, 11+ hall of famers on his resume along with everything else he’s accomplished, there’s nothing anyone can say. I’m sure people would because Floyd isn’t the most likable guy but those wins would have a tremendously enhanced his legacy IMO.

 

I agree with that. I'm talking about after. De La Hoya was the star of the show before losing to Mayweather and Pac Man.