The Pac that destroyed Cotto at 147? A Cotto that was still a stud at the time? No way would I rank Kovalev above him. And I think very highly of Kovalev, even thought he was p4p 1 prior to the Ward fight, but no. No way was he above Pac when Pac was tearing through things.
That fight was at 145. And I would take my chances with Kovalev against a field of 175 pounders than I would with Pac against 147 pounders.
The only win on that list thats truly impressive is Corrales. Corrales was a terrific fighter and FlIVd made him look like a C level fighter. I thought FlIVd would win that fight going in but I was fan at the time so I was biased but I remember FlIVd was an underdog because Corrales was pretty damn good (RIP) in his own right. The rest of those wins are a green and drained kid, a little alcoholic, a big alcoholic cross dresser who was half retired, an old man off his PEDs and a guy who beat FlIVd.
Quit bringing up reach whats next are you going to bring up chin or power? Pac has beaten guys with longer reach pretty much his whole career. It's an excuse. Being outweighed by 15 to 20 pounds would be a better argument reach is bull****.
Personally I feel Keith has been overrated to an extent but the fact that at 40yrs Manny is still beating prime Champs should show you he was nowhere near washed when he lost to Mayweather.
I like to put all Wins into Context I think putting a gun to my head Canelo or Pacquiao would be Mayweathers best wins, over 35+ in both fights, fighting the #1 challenger to him in his 4th and 5th division both unification fights. After Marquez before Mayweather, Manny beat Bradley,Rios, & Algeri, and after Mayweather he's beaten Bradley again, Vargas, Mathysse,Broner, & Thurman with what most consider a robbery loss to Horn sprinkled in. I like Spence and Crawford but if you look at they're resume they haven't beaten as good of fighters overall as Manny whose solidly been a top WW for a while. Also everyone brings up others fighters condition but no one brings up Mayweathers age or how many divisions up he was, is unfair for Hatton in his 2nd division to fight Mayweather in his 4th even though Hatton at 140 weighed more than Mayweather at 154. or Canelo who is my favorite active fighter losing 2lbs to 152 vs Mayweather who was 36/7 and fighting in his 5th weight class,.. Just at SFW Mayweather has an ATG Record comparable to a lot of current fighters total careers....guys like GGG,Spence,Ward are all highly rated yet Mayweather at 130 has more or as many quality wins as they do they're whole career. again G.Hernanadez was the best 130 fighter of the 90's era and unbeaten at the weight only loss in career was to Hoya at his only fight at 135. Corrales who was unbeaten P4P rated higher than Mayweather was IBF Champ before he vacated/striped right before the fight and shortly after losing won another 130 title and 2 titles at 135 in some of the best fights in the 00's era. Chavez again a fighter with only 1 loss in his career at that point was a top SFW and After losing went on to win a SFW title after Mayweather moved up in weight only had losses to fighters guys considered ATGs for the most part, I think E.Morales won his WBC SFW Title from Chavez. C.Hernandez another top rated contender who had only 1 or 2 losses after Mayweather moved up in weight went on to become a Champ at 130.considering Ward did Move up to LHW I'll even throw in Castillo who was the WBC an Lineal LW Champ that right there is better than a lot of fighters current Careers,let alone comparable to Wards
No but he was injured and was still nowhere near his best. Yeah I know FlIVd neither but he was in much better condition not having the tread that Manny has. The fight doesnt mean much imho. If they fought again and Manny knocked FlIVd out it'd be just as meaningless.
I’m sorry but Thurman was inactive and ruined by injuries and went life and death with a really average opponent in the fight before Manny
Come on man, this is a very poor response. Do you want to debate or not? What extravagant excuses? Yes, Floyd deserves huge credit for being in such incredible shape when he fought Canelo. But the weight wasn't an issue. Canelo never tried to get close to Floyd to over power him. Also, the heavier Canelo was, the more immobile he was. Canelo being much heavier was an advantage to Floyd with the tactics which he employed. The unnecessary C-W certainly takes the shine off of the win. It was obvious that Floyd only enforced it in the hope that Canelo would struggle to make weight. Again, that version of Canelo was very naive. You saw what happened when Floyd was pressured by Oscar and a lesser fighter in Maidana. The fight came far too early for Canelo. Schooled Manny? Behave. It was a safety first performance against a guy who was clearly injured. It's not even Floyd's best win. His win over Oscar was better than his win over Manny, as Oscar was a much tougher proposition. You're not supposed to be viewing his opponents in an historical context. You're supposed to be looking at the exact versions of the guys he fought as well as taking into account any circumstances. Of course Manny is an overall better fighter than Oscar. We all know that. But you're looking at the specific versions they fought. Again, Manny was injured, and then there's the IV scandal. Nobody else beat Manny like Floyd did? What on earth are you talking about?
What excuses? Manny was clearly injured. Floyd clearly wasn't severely dehydrated. Does Manny really still look GREAT? World class, sure. But great? How was Floyd more shot? What are you talking about? No, you can't say the same for Floyd. But that's because he chose to retire.
We're not just going to judge that win based on the knockout loss to JMM. But yes, it was a factor. Address the rest of the post, taking into account every other relevant factor.
It's very strange. He'd been out of the ring for a long time due to injuries and contractual issues. He didn't have to move up to fight Kovalev. He deserves huge credit for it. Kovalev was in his prime and was very dangerous. Especially to a guy who only had respectable power at the weight below. And to actually stop him was a great feat. I'm a big fan of Marquez, but Floyd being Floyd had to gain an unecessary advantage over him. I'll give him credit for being so sharp after being inactive, but Ward fighting Kovalev and stopping him was a much tougher proposition. I don't think that Floyd would have taken on a challenge such as that one. Ward's win has to rank higher. Then you have the easy win over Froch with a fractured hand, just before Froch destroyed Lucian Bute.
As ever, I always respect your opinion. But even a faded Oscar was better than any version of Ricky, and I loved Ricky. Then you have to look at the sizes of the opponents as well as how they matched up stylistically. Oscar was just a much tougher puzzle to solve.
Absurd? Seriously man, what are you talking about? You have noted that Ricky outweighed Floyd by about 10 pounds. Okay, fine. But was that really an advantage, considering that Ricky wasn't at his optimum weight, and his style was built around his stamina? Ricky would have loved the fight at LWW. But he couldn't get it, as he didn't have the pull, and Floyd had recently fought Oscar at JMW. Ricky being 10 pounds heavier had no bearing on the fight. Now kindly tell me why you think that's relevant, when you have completely ignored the fact that Floyd had a 7-8" reach advantage over him?? You mentioning weight but not reach is what's absurd. Again, the heavier Ricky was, the slower he was. Floyd's huge reach for a man of his size gave him a great advantage over a come forward fighter (not boxer) with a 65" reach. You are not taking relevant factors into account here. Why don't you think Ricky wasn't an easy match up for him stylistically? Regarding Hearns, yes I give him credit. He fought ATG fighters who were in their prime. But yes, we have to note that he had huge physical advantages over most of his opponents.
