Has there been a bigger waste of talent than Mayweahter?

Only Salvador Sanchez was a bigger waste of talent among all great fighters... the difference is, that man died in a car crash, Mayweather is deliberately ****ing his own legacy up thru his own actions or lack of.

 

Good post, though I would say:

Sanchez's resume > Mayweather's resume

 

Perhaps tho I still feel that despite him being a ***** he will rank over Sanchez on the ATG lists... I dont think that would have been the case if Sanchez fought until 34 tho (or even fkn 28 for that matter)

 

As things stand, I'd have Sanchez over Mayweather ATG-wise, but Mayweather still has time to change that of course. Not that I think he will, but the opportunity exists if he wants to get active again, and stops shirking dangerous challenges.

But yes, if Sanchez hadn't gone so young, he could've developed into something very special. Perhaps even Mexico's first 4-weight champion??

 

could of fought more regularly against top opposition

 

He might have had Arguello on his resume as well... but I wouldnt like to call that fight tbh.

For me it depends on how his body coped with the move up in weight, if he stayed the same or actually improved Id back him by decision but if it took ANYTHING from him then Alexis is the exact guy you do not want to be in a 15 rd fight against.
It would have been a superb fight between 2 of the best ever... we missed that & many many more Sal fights.... life can be a **** at times :-(

 

Pacquiao envites/encourages everyone to watch his fight while Gayweather envites everyfan/***** to watch his big mansion.... wasted talent indeed!!!

 

Agreed. Sanchez vs Arguello is one of the all-time great fights that never happened. It would've been fascinating to see how Sal coped with Arguello's artillery in the championship rounds.

 

If I had to rank the great fighters post whittaker based on accomplishment to date:

Pac
Hopkins
Holyfield
Hoya
Floyd
Jones
Toney
Jmm
Em
Mab

Maybe casamayor belongs there also? But all of them are top hundred. I have hoya at number 25 and floyd just outside him. I don't think tito and mosley quite make the grade but i'd have to dig deeper.

If floyd beats say ortiz, pac, martinez he can easily crack the top 15. But I still think he's missed an opportunity to be top 10 and not many fighters have that opportunity to begin with.

Obviously there have been greater wastes, but floyd showed such promise, damn it's annoying to think of his resume between castillo and baldomir. It's been that long since he beat an elite opponent i'm not even sure how elite he is anymore. In 3 years he's beat a lightweight and a shot fighter. How can we gauge his talent off that? I'd love to believe he still has it but I just don't know any more.

 

atsch

 

I don't think it's unreasonable to say that Mayweather ''wasted'' his talent. But a phrase I'd use, and I think is more accurate, is ''under-achiever''.

If you consider his accomplishments.....

1. 41-0, having beaten several very good fighters along the way.
2. Five weight ''world champion''.
3. He's very famous and made lots of money.

However......

1. There's several excellent fighters that he didn't/hasn't fought.
2. There's now 17 weight classes and several titles per weight class.
3. Is it about the money or the glory?

So, if you look at when his level of opposition and activity started to subside, after moving to 140.....

Corley
Bruseles
Gatti
Mitchell
Judah
Baldomir
De La Hoya
Hatton
Marquez
Mosley

If you.....

leave Corley as is
replace Bruseles with Zab
replace Gatti with Tszyu
replace Mitchell with Hatton

Move up to welter.....

replace Zab with Mosley
replace Baldomir with Margarito
leave DLH as was at 154 for the money
replace Hatton with Williams

Don't retire.....

fight Cotto in mid-2008
there's lots of potential rematches with Mosley, Margarito, Cotto & Williams for late 2008 and early 2009
fight Sergio Martinez at 154 late 2009
Pacquiao in early 2010 instead of fighting him fighting Clottey

That's one hell of a resume and would push him toward the level where his fans believe he is. There's some fighters in there that he did fight, but arguably not the very best versions..... and I've not even listed fighters like Clottey, Berto, Cintron, Ortiz etc etc.

Obviously that doesn't consider TV problems, but I'm sure if they came up with a deal for Lewis/Tyson they'd do it for Mayweather/Tszyu, for instance.

 

Tyson was one of the most popluar boxers in boxing history by the time of Tyson/Lewis. Mayweather got his first ever PPV at 140 against Gatti.

The problem is that there was no demand to fight Mayweather when he was up and coming. He wasn't an unknown guy either, he was known for his talent by other boxers and trainers. He didn't have a big following though, he was not worth the risk/reward. Mosley rather then fight Mayweather before moving up in weight choose to go right after Oscar rather then risk fighting and losing to Mayweather and hurting his pay day. As stated before Mayweather didn't even get his first PPV until he fought Gatti which is when he first started to get attention by non die hards. After the beating Gatti took there weren't to many people interested in fighting him at that time. His goal was to fight Mosley and Hoya at WW then call it quits but he was expecting those fights to be his first few and final fights at WW. Mayweather didn't become a big seller until he fought Hoya. People get it mixed up like Mayweather was the shot caller his whole career. He didn't have enough pull like he does to day when he was up and coming.

Pac on the other hand got his Hoya big money and popularity fight in only his 2nd fight moving up in weight.

 

They all should have moved up in weight and fought each other and others at the higher weights rather then killing themselves to stay at 130 to fight each other.

 

Dirty punches in the clinch against an injured Mayweather? Everything not a jab is a "power punch"..Floyd outboxed him easily both times..

 

Who the **** has Chavez beaten? I want him to succeed for the sake of boxing, but he couldn't have gotten an easier list of opponents.