Floyd Mayweather - The Best Ever?

Late to this thread and I read some fairly insightful comments, but this pretty much sums things up.

I've been watching boxing since Hagler was in his prime, (he's why I started watching boxing) and I still remember when the world stopped for the "Thrilla in Manilla." Afterwards, I became and remain a huge Duran fan. Over the years I've seen a lot of fights between 147-135 and I agree that in their primes, Oscar and Mosley would very likely beat Mayweather, and a dialed in prime Duran at 135 would definitely beat Floyd. I know he's got a great defense but it's actually hard to win a fight without throwing enough punches to win rounds, and if you're in the ring with someone like Duran, you have to be able to hurt him or avoid getting hit for most of the fight, not an easy task.

As for Floyd's defense, yes it's extremely elite, but so was Benitez and Pea.

But if you factor in the ability to transition from defense to offense and vis-versa, Duran was probably the best of the bunch. But SRL and Hearns were both fighters that I would pick comfortably over Mayweather, and if one wants to knock SRL for whatever reason, just remember he beat Hearns, which is someone I can't even fathom Mayweather doing. Nor can I fathom Mayweather getting in the ring with Hagler, someone the rest of the fab 4 did.

As for ranking, Floyd's an ATG everyone can agree on that, it's just a question of where to place him and the more you know about boxing (ie Armstrong, Sam Langford, etc,) the lower you're likely going to rank him because you understand the history of the sport more. But it's no insult to rate him in the top 40 and before he's finished he could rank somewhere in the 20's. Many 20 year olds will dispute that this is too low and many historians will say this is too high, which to me makes it about right. As for his "0" I don't factor that into the equation at all, why would you?

 

I don,t see much in the way of evolution with PBF,compared to SRL, Hearns,Duran,Pryor etc... I have zero doubt that H2H, Pryor, Hearns,Duran and SRL beat PBF... And the thread is TBE, right ? Hearns by KO,in a horrific mismatch. Pryor late stoppage,same with SRL. Yes, they stop PBF who hasn,t been stopped before. But he hasn,t fought anyone close to this level of fighters. So, I think it,s fair to say that he is NOT TBE... He hasn,t been truly tested because he never fought the level of fighters that would have truly put him to the test. Baldomir, shopworn Mosely and Oscar ? Still green Canelo ? Catchweight,one dimensional JMM ? Castillo ? Castillo ??? If Hearns or SRL fought the fighters that PBF has, I promise you they too would be undefeated...

 

Good,solid post ! Whitaker in his prime, every bit as good defensively as PBF. Again, you have to truly look at the quality of opponents... No comparison... Whitaker fought a far better level of competition than PBF,not even close...

 

It also doesn't hurt to watch them actually fight. With youtube video's there's really no excuss for not watching 3-4 fights and deciding for yourself who the better fighter is. It really shouldn't be the mystery it appears to be.

 

I was going to avoid this thread but to keep it short is Mayweather "The Best Ever" no but based off skillset/accomplishments he could easily finish top 10 depending on his last 3 maybe 4 fights.

Many of the past fighters people bring up are great but this idea that any fighter before the 90's beats every fighter in boxing since 1990 is ridiculous. Mayweather would be a tough out vs any fighter in history between 130-147/54 win or lose the only chance is basically landing a 1/10 chance hail mary and even if landed that still might not do it.

Mayweather's greatness isn't because he Undefeated its because his a 5-Division Champ(only 8 legitimate names in this group), has beaten the most Champions in boxing history, is tied for most Lineal titles all time, and is possibly the best defensive fighter of all time on top of beating Undefeated.

Last note on comp for all the great fighters and HOFers he's fought how is his legacy measured but the guys who aren't great by any strech or HOFers he didn't fight. Past prime Mosley should he'd likely beat any version of Margarito, an HOF/ATG Hoya at 34 beats any version of P.Williams, Castillo/Corrales hold wins over Frietas, Casamayor, Lazcano ect.. yet the names he didn't fight are more important outside of JWW Mayweather has a top 5 resume at SFW, LW, WW,& JMW of any fighter in recent history. Only standout name missed is Pacquiao blame who you want for that.

 

Floyd was knocked down by Judah, ref called it a slip, clean flash knockdown

 

Inspite of the title, Vanboxingfan and Waynegrade posts in this thread make this thread read worthy.

 

Back in the sixties someone asked Paul McCartney if Ringo Starr was the best drummer in the world. He replied, "He's not even the best drummer in the band." 'Bout how I feel when people ask that question about Floyd.

 

**** post from a *****. only idiots will post like this.

 

Crap post by a Floyd fanatic.

 

Best and greatness are different things.

Floyd is one of the best because as a boxer, he is technically suberb defensively and offensively. He's the best at hitting and not getting hit and made a lot of good opponents look average.

Floyd is not one of the greatest. He hasn't taken the biggest fights (i.e. Pacquiao) and his style isn't that exciting.

 

Never box a boxer, most of floyds opponents went down that track, maidana rattled floyd for 5 or 6 rounds of their fight because he took floyds style away from him, couldn't understand why canelo didn't take the same approach, if that was Duran in maidanas place, floyd would have been out in 3 or 4 rounds

 

deal:deal

it sums it all up as...

"...it's the hypocrisy of Floyd's fans that's funny..." - Doug Fischer (RING TV) :yep

 

I'm a Mayweather fanatic yet I don't have him in my top 10 or 20, if your smart enough to try and refute what I said by all means go ahead but win or lose Mayweather would be a tough fight for 90% of the guys who been at the same weights as him.