Floyd Mayweather Junior - his place in history?

So if his retirement is to be taken at face value - where does Floyd stand? I expect a barrage of insults for this but here's my two pence worth;

Born Floyd Joy Sinclair on 24 February 1977 'Pretty Boy Floyd' was born into a boxing family, son of former welterweight boxer Floyd Mayweather Snr and nephew to former boxer Jeff Mayweather and former champion Roger Mayweather. Floyd rose to prominance during his amateur career amassing an impressive record of 84-6 and winning the Golden Gloves (USA's premier national amateur competition) three times in four years. PBF also won a bronze in 1996 Atlanta Olympics being beaten in controversial style by the Bulgarian silver-medalist Serafim Todorov. Mayweather (as he became known shortly after birth when given his father's name) then turned pro and began his sterling career in October 1996. He was trained by Roger Mayweather and Floyd Mayweather Snr (when the latter was not in prison) and it is their training regime's which have been cited as the key to Floyd's succes.

Floyd's defensive prowess has become a thing of beauty. Able to slip punches which others would not even see have led to Mayweather becoming one of the best fighters of all time. His potential became evident when he won his first title, WBC superfeatherweight strap, in 1998. A dispute with Floyd Snr in 1999 led to Roger Mayweather becoming PBF's sole trainer. It was in 2001 however that Floyd's legacy began to form. In a fight highly anticipated, Mayweather took on Diego Corrales 'Chico' Corrales. At the time Corrales had a record of 33-0, Mayweather a record of 24-0. Both men were considered terrific fighters, Corrales more a warrior and Mayweather more a technician. Neither man had been on the canvas prior to this fight. At the end of round 10, Mayweather stood with his arms aloft having put Chico down five times during the fight, forcing Corrales' corner to stop the fight. Mayweather was being touted as possibly the best pound for pound boxer on the planet.

Mayweather had a couple more bouts at this weight (including the first time he went down, against Carlos Hernandez - however, Mayweather had broken his hand during the fight, landed a left hook to his opponent but it was Floyd who stumbled and placed his hand on the canvas forcing a count from the referee). Floyd moved up to lightweight and took on linear champion Jose Luis Castillo. This was one of the closest fights in which Mayweather has been involved. Castillo showed clues of how to defeat Mayweather, closing the ring, pressuring the fighter and tying him up whenever Floyd began to pick off his opponenet. However, Mayweather had been too good too early in the fight before Castillo had figured him out and took a controversial points decision. To answer his critics, Mayweather agreed to a rematch and schooled his opponent in a unanimous points win without any shades of doubt involved!

After a couple more fights at lightweight, Floyd set his sights on the competitive junior-welterweight division. After a couple of fights (dismantling DeMarcus Corley and Henry Burseles) Floyd fought for Arturo Gatti's WBC crown. Despite some people's comments, I rate Gatti as a B+ fighter. Mayweather, in facing arguably his best opponent so far, was at his most impressive. If there is need for anybody to see what Floyd is capable of, this is the fight to do it. Mayweather was hardly caught all night and teed off on his opponent from start to finish. At the end of round 6, Gatti's corner would not let him continue. Floyd was P4P number one and boxing had a new icon!
In November 2005, Mayweather hit the welterweight division. It is here that he has established his legend. He kayoed the highly rated (but most considered him past-it) Sharmba Mitchell and then took on another great - Zab Judah. Judah is a fighter that can look brilliant and dismal in equal proportions, but nobody dismissed his talent. Mayweather took a unanimous decision, although the fight is mainly remembered for the fight that broke out between Roger Mayweather and Yoel Judah (Zab's trainer) during round six! Floyd then beat Carlos Baldomir a year later to unify the IBF and WBC crowns.

Floyd's next stop was a massive money maker with (yet another!) legend Oscar De La Hoya. For me, this is Mayweather's closest fight. The decision on the night was a split decision, and from memory I had Oscar two rounds ahead going into round 9. However, the ageing De La Hoya simply ran out of steam. His jab, which served him so well early on in the fight began to slow and Floyd took advantage, countering De La Hoya winning each of the remaining rounds. Floyd had again proved he was the best at yet another weight, but he didnt hang around at light-middleweight (presumably seeing that if an ageing Oscar was able to inflict so much damage then a younger fighter might be very dangerous!).

So then we turn to his farewell bout - Ricky Hatton. Floyd was favourite but many felt that Hatton could succeed where Castillo had failed, pressuring the elusive Floyd and using his neat footwork to cut off the ring and prevent Mayweather using the angles. For 8 rounds this hope continued, Hatton taking a couple of the early rounds (possibly even hurting Mayweather in the first! but maybe that was my Hatton tinted glasses) and the rest being fairly even. I had Hatton one behind going into round 8, then it all changed. It became apparent that Hatton's chasing was taking its toll, he gassed out and Mayweather's sublime skill set took over. He picked Hatton apart and put him down twice in round 10 before the fight was stopped.

We were led to believe that a rematch with De La Hoya was destined to happen in September and that a possible rematch with Hatton would take place in Wembley in 2009. If Mayweather is to be believed then this is no longer the case. He has retired and his fights are now memories. But give all that he acheived, what will history say about Mayweather?

In my opinion, he will be remembered in a line of fighters that ruled boxing for a substantial period. Following in the footsteps of Pernell Whitaker, Roy Jones Junior and Oscar De La Hoya. In my mind, he's certainly been the best boxer of the last ten years and history will reflect that. However, there will remain questions over fighters he didnt face. Some have argued that he ducked Casamayor at lightweight - I cant agree, he beat Corrales who was rated #1 at the time. Others have suggested he ducked Kostya Tszyu at lightwelter - this has more ground to it but he went on to defeat Tszyu's conquerer in Ricky Hatton anyway. However, the one criticism is the suggestion that Mayweather has ducked Miguel Cotto at welterweight. To put the record straight, I believe Mayweather would KO Cotto if the two were to meet, but I still think it's a valid criticism to level at Mayweather. Both Floyd and Cotto are in their prime. A win for Floyd would cement his legacy as one of the best of all time. At the moment, there's still a doubt that he has done as much as he should have. Retiring with a record of 39-0 is no mean feat, but 40-0 would leave him an absolute legend!

At one point recently, I said Mayweather was the best welterweight of all time. I think I was a little overzealous in saying this, but here is where he stands in my all time rankings at lightweight, welterweight and pound for pound;

LW: #9 (behind in no particular order; Duran, Whitaker, Armstrong, Ortiz, DeJesus, Benny Leonard, Arguello and Julio Ceasar Chavez)

WW: #9 (behind, in no particular order; Sugar Ray Robinson, Ray Leonard, Kid Gavilan, Ted Lewis, Armstrong, Palomino, Benitez and Cuevas)

P4P: #35 (behind, in no partcular order; all those stated above and Ali, Hagler, Pep, Moore, Louis, Roy Jones Junior, Greb, Ezzard Charles, Marciano, Bob Foster, Cervantes, Fitzsimmons, Langford, Wilfredo Gomez, Aaron Pryor, Zarate, Pedroza and Wilde)

Some of these overlap and I have Mayweather behind some on P4P but ahead at respective weights, this is down to respective acheivements across weight divisions.

*Quick disclaimer - my pre-war knowledge is not that great - apologies in advance!*

 

Nice one Brawler... I'm not expecting others to be as happy with it - either with my rankings or explanations of fights.

Out of interest then, at LW, who do you have above him?