Why Doesn't Roy Jones Jr. Consider Floyd Mayweather Jr. A Top Boxer Of All Time?

Roy is just salty because he was the best of his era but blew it. He said top 10 because he can't name old timers off the top of his head, not because he was complimenting Floyd.

 

Jones Jr. Knows what he's talking about.
Personally I don't consider May Jr in the top twenty-five fighters in the history of the sport TBH.
May Jr.s resume looks good on the surface. And may sell to his know it all fan base.
But when digging a little deeper, it's mostly smoke and mirrors.
Not one prime or close to prime ATG to be found is my biggest red flag.
Look at the names:
Deloyhoya- past prime by almost 8 yrs, a part time fighter, part time cross dresser, part time cocaine addict at the time he fought May Jr. Yet some think he beat him.
Mosley:
Almost 10 yrs past his prime, was win some lose some stage of his career. Was always a plan "A" fighter , never seemed to have a plan "B", even in his prime. So was he an ATG?
Pac:
Past his prime, above his best fighting weight, conviently coming off a brutal ko loss, five years past when he and May Jr. We're originally signed to fight.
Marquez :
Best fighting weight was featherweight, past his prime, many hard fights by the time they fought jumped up in weight for the money.
Cotto:
Past his prime, many hard fights, and tough losses. Clearly on downside of his career by the time they fought.
Alvarez?
Not a great fighter, but learned how to pick his opponents carefully, something he picked up from May Jr.
None of those fighters were successful after they fought May Jr. with exception of Alvarez.
A big indicator of where they were in their careers.
Another indication is Vegas, bookies don't win by losing money.
May Jr. Had 50 pro fights (allegedly) , only one fight he wasn't favored to win.
The Diego Corrales fight, a fight ironically he looked his absolute best, and demonstrated his potential for ATG status.
But that was "Pretty Boy" Mayweather Jr.
"Money" Mayweather became primarily focused on keeping his "0" and making the most money possible with the least amount of risk
He achieved that.
Good for him.
But he doesn't belong in the top 25 in the history of boxing.
One man's opinion...

 

I’m a Money fan and no way in hell is he top 25 , I would put him and Pac-Man no higher than top 30-35 calling it like I see it.

 

I honestly don’t know what “On his level” means. For me, that means someone who was around that people thought could beat him or we didn’t know what the outcome would be (50-50) fight. There was no one out there for Floyd to fight that was viewed that way IMO. That’s because 1. He didn’t come up in an era like that 2. He was above the field with his abilities. I personally don’t even have an ATG list because it’s kinda pointless to me. There is no set criteria and people are not going to agree.

One thing I will say is that Floyd IMO faces some underserved criticism in part because of how good he was. What I mean is that we (boxing fans and media) are conditioned to believe that greatness is failing and overcoming the odds. That you are not truly tested unless you fail. That’s why we praise fighters who take losses and come back from them. We are conditioned to root for the underdog. That’s why we praise fighters who win fights they weren’t favored to win. Those are perceived as taking risks. All of that is fine but what about the fighter who doesn’t lose? The fighter who just goes out there and gets the job done? When we talk about fighters winning fights that they weren’t perceived to win, a lot of the time it’s based on fighters recent performances. Ali has two wins that many consider some of the greatest wins in boxing history because of the perception going into the fight. With Liston and Foreman Ali was a heavy underdog. Why? I think a major part of that is Ali not looking good in back to back fights vs Cooper and Doug Jones. With Foreman, Ali looked past his prime. But what if Ali was looking dominant prior to those fights? Would the narrative be the same? Probably not. Same with Duran beating Davey Moore and Iran Barkley. If Duran was still looking dominant prior to those fights, would the perception be the same going into it? I don’t think so. I say all that to say Floyd really never had fights with that type of perception because he kept winning. He kept dominating. So of course he’s not going to have fights where people don’t think he will/can win. The closest was his fight with Corrales and why was that? Floyd didn’t look good against Emanuel Augustus. Boxing is about perception. When you are the fighter who people perceive as always the favorite, it’s not going to be viewed as impressive. I don’t think Floyd should be blamed for that. Blame him for picking fights at the right time, the stupid stuff he says, and the politics he used that still permeates in the sport today. But I don’t think he should be blamed for being better than his competition. Even if Floyd fought a prime Cotto, Pacquiao, Williams, Margarito and whoever people want to name, he still would have been seen as the favorite to win.

 

Roy's opinion was reasonable. It didn't come off as hate to me. Originally started on Ward's ATS podcast when Ward and Jones were breaking down different matchups.
Eventually it got to Ray Leonard vs Floyd Mayweather. How does that fight go? What would it come down to? Who takes it? Roy said that people still don't realize how mean RL was. Basically Leonard had that Tiger gear he could call on.

We all saw it. Ray needed to dig deep it was something different. Jones didnt say Floyd was lacking just that he never really got pushed to that point.

 

I'm, no Mayweatherf fan, I think it's because Floyd knew when to retire, retired undefeated and was never stretched out on the canvas in a pool of his own blood with one of his legs twitching.

 

a mixture of jealousy and a preference for a different style.

floyd is one of the best ever unless you rank purely by how long ago they fought or are just blinded by hate.

 

Swap Charles with Gans or Louis and I definitely agree with you

 

Don't see why Jones would be salty. He and Mayweather were in their primes around the same time and nobody ever put them in the same bracket. Jones was that far ahead of him.

 

He’s that far behind him now.

 

i'm not sure why but he def is. you can see it in his face and hear it in his voice when he gets asked a question about floyd.

 

It's not just losing and coming back from a loss, it's fighting opponents who are considered live underdogs. For example Frazier was (slightly) favored to beat Ali in their first fight, however it's recognized as his career defining win despite the fact that he was favored. There were at least 2 fightsat 147 - 154 t that people didn't "know" Mayweather would win. Winky Wright and Pacquiao 2009-2010.

 

I get your point. You are saying even if they are the favorite, their opponent can still be seen as a live underdog. But that's not my point. My point is about fighting guys on his level. That was Roy's argument. Floyd never faced opponents on his level. So what is on his level mean to you? For me, it means guys who people think can beat you (underdog) or the outcome is unknown (50-50) fight. I don't think there was any fight in Floyd's career that fits that including Manny. Of course there were people who thought Manny could win. But the majority did not. The expectation was that Floyd would win even if they thought it would be competitive. As far as Winky, Floyd would have had to move up 2 weight classes. So I wasn't factoring in jumping multiple divisions. I was just talking about within the weight divisions he fought in.

 

The competition for a top 5 p4p spot is incredibly tough.

There have been so many fantastic fighters, from so many eras, across so may weight classes.

Being he best fighter of your era, doesn't automatically put you in the argument.

 

People really struggle with the fact that Mayweather was that good. He’s top 5 in my book. Only knock is him and Pac not meeting seven years earlier. When they did Mayweather made him look awful. Because he’s that good. He easily beat all the best fighters of the era Oscar, Canelo, Pac, Cotto, Marquez Mosley etc. Give the man his flowers