Where do you have Floyd Mayweather rated pound for pound?

I don't normally rank fighters because it's hard to rank fighters from different eras under different rules. But based on Floyd's accomplishments, I would have to imagine he's somewhere in the top 20. Half of his fights were world title fights. He was a lineal champion 5 times. He beat 9 hall of famers (potentially more). Floyd was rated as a P4P fighter 16 out of 20 years. He was rated number 1 7 times. I can go on and on. He passes the eye test with flying colors and his accomplishments are noteworthy. People can dismiss his accomplishments as "He made moves at the right time" but that only goes so far. At some point, a guy who was undefeated in 5 weight classes, defeated numerous world champions, won a bunch of world titles, was elite for a significant period of time, and dominated his opposition (for the most part) should be considered highly impressive and not something that is easy to accomplish.

 

To be fair, if we wanted to, we could criticize any fighter's resume the same way. I just think when it comes to Floyd and the fact that is his unlikeable that people are harsher with their criticisms and don't hold the fighter they like to the same level of scrutiny. For example, you mentioned De La Hoya right? Floyd and Oscar were never in the same weight class. They weren't even in the same weight class when they did fight each other. In the late 90s, Oscar was at welterweight and Floyd was a super featherweight. When Oscar first retired in 2004, he was at middleweight and Floyd was at junior welterweight. The fight happened when it was supposed to happen. That was the only time in their careers that they were even remotely close in weight. Pretty similar situation with Shane Mosley as well. Outside of 1998 when they were a weight class apart, Mosley and Floyd weren't in the same weight class until 2007. By then Mosley was already past his prime. That's not being selective. That's just fighters who although from the same era, were not in the same weight classes until much later in their careers.

I would argue strongly that Canelo is a great win. You can feel that Canelo is overrated but he still is an elite level fighter. He still accomplished a ton in the sport. He is without a doubt a first ballot hall of famer. Floyd beat a young Canelo and people criticize that as him being selective in his decision making. My question is, when were they supposed to fight? Floyd is 13 years older than Canelo. There was never going to be a perfect time for them to fight. After losing to Floyd, Canelo went on to become number 1 P4P for years. That's the definition of a great win IMO. I personally would rank that win significantly higher than him beating Porter, Williams, or Alexander. None of who are likely to be in the HOF.

 

To rate Floyd seriously you'd have to include the blatantly biased Vegas judges,who gave him wins he did not deserve, the NSAC , for turning a blind eye to several dubious failed test results, in Particular IV gate. How they could claim he was innocent in that case defeats me

 

Yes these are the asterisks I'm talking about. I'm no fan of Floyd the man but Floyd the fighter was an exceptional talent and does have a number of good wins in spite of the diva behaviour you point out. His legacy is weighed down significantly by it, but Floyd is also quite possibly the greatest SFW and a top 10 welterweight. Floyd was a diva who used stalling tactics, a Vegas home court, and illegal substances. Floyd was also a marvel in the ring and conquered such fighters like ODLH, Cotto, Canelo, Pac, Chico, and JMM. Two things can be true at the same time.

 

Shane actually wasn’t interested in fighting Floyd earlier. I think that was the infamous “tooth ache” excuse.

 

Disagree. FOTC was basically the biggest heavyweight fight in history.

 

That isn’t conventional logic. If Floyd got knocked out by Genaro Hernandez, he never would’ve fought Canelo. I don’t buy it all, particularly when Floyd’s detractors are critical of the Pacquiao win, which occurred when he was pfp 1 excluding Floyd and Floyd was 38 years old to Pac’s 36, but apparently overlooking the circumstances of the Liston fights.

 

Yeah, that was around 2004-2005 (when Mosley had won 3 in 8 fights and that was a debatable win over a fading Oscar and two over a shot Vargas, but when they were both interviewed on a HBO KO Nation show in the late 90s, the subject of a fight between the two was brought up and Shane said he’d love the fight whereas Floyd said no because he’s focusing on super featherweight. Remember he’d talk about how he wanted to beat Joe Louis’s 25 defenses record.

 

Floyd wasn’t fighting at 130 in 2004-2005, so that one can be put to bed.

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Err, no, we can’t put it to bed because I specifically mentioned that “but when they were both interviewed on a HBO KO Nation show in the late 90s, the subject of a fight between the two was brought up and Shane said he’d love the fight whereas Floyd said no because he was focusing on super featherweight.” That was when both were unbeaten and Shane was at 135.

 

Is there a video of this? I heard Mosley say it but I haven't seen any video confirming it. The only thing I was able to find about a potential fight is a NY Times article where it said Arum offered Mosley a fight against Floyd at a catchweight of 137 and Mosley declined because apparently he couldn't make the weight. This was in 1999.

 

I forget which fight was the main event but it was one of the HBO KO Nation shows. If I saw a list of the fights from that series I might be able to locate it.

 

Did Floyd REAALY beat those fighters you name or did he receive gifts from his pet judges & the commission ??? He certainly NEVER beat Pac fairly did he? Should have been made a N/C