Imagine how boring Ali's career would have been had he did everything he could to keep his 0? He'd have never reached legend status.
I’ve watched many fights of Willie Pep and I could not tell you all of the opponents names off the top of my head.
Boxing fans are an odd lot. There are people who worship Mike Tyson despite him being a convicted ****** and biting a man’s ear off (actions) but hate another fighter because of something he said (words). As for ‘barely remembering’ Norton’s name … I forgot something once, but it was so long ago I don’t even remember what it was.
There's a difference between struggling to remember Fabela Chavez and struggling to remember Ken Norton. If you watch 3 fights of a guy fighting the most popular Boxer of all time, and you think that he won all of them, then you don't have trouble remembering that guy's name.
I don't love him but I do respect his accomplishments as I think any true boxing fan should. I don't see how going up on weight and beating many good and some even great fighters is "smoke and mirrors" and sure he could have fought more and missed some fighters but he still beat all the best of his era and even a future great in Canelo, some of which had a significant size advantage over him I don't see how that's not impressive. He was also able to stay so good for quite awhile into his 30s while other fighters were already past their best by then like Ali and Leonard so again you can hate the person but you can't help but respect the accomplishments.
I don't like Floyd at all but he's right about the Norton fights and he probably saw them at some point. He wasn't the only one who had that opinion: George Foreman, who's spent the better part of his life glorifying Ali, said that he didn't believe that Ali beat Norton even once. It's really not that controversial of an opinion and its probably true.
LOL, I can see that. He would bristle at anyone else with a faultless record. Still I bet he has talked a lot more about Ali than anyone else.
For the general public and casuals, the heavyweight division is always going to outshine the lower weight divisions. Most people think Norton won at least 2 of their fights, but the majority have Ali over the undefeated Marciano.
FMJ was an extraordinary talent, but he has a different idea than most, I suspect, about what it is to be 'Great'. He's likely always equated greatness to him keeping his '0'. Which is ironic really, given that his efforts to do so are what impact his rating.
1) Kenny Norton was robbed in at leat one fight vs. Ali, and should be 2-1 maybe 3 - 0. 2) Fairweather is a jerk, but a smart jerk, who is just stirring the pot and getting attention raising silly controversies.
Mayweather wants credit for approaching the sport differently. Instead of getting into wars and taking punishment (like Ali did), Mayweather was smarter in and out of the ring.
