Is Mayweather a victim of his era?

When you look back at the legends of the sport, they all became legends because of whom they fought and how they did it. Ali had his dramatic three matches with Frazier, and the epic one with Foreman, Leonard had his Duran, Hearns and Hagler, etc. The key is that they also went into matches that they weren’t expected to win, and won anyway. They also lost and came back stronger and better, showing immense heart and dedication.

But whom has Mayweather had? An old, very faded De La Hoya who had lost numerous times? A natural light welter Hatton, who didn’t grasp the concept of ‘intelligent’ pressure? A mentally weak (and already destroyed by Zoo and Baldo) Zab Judah? The list goes on. While he’s definitely had GOOD wins, he’s never really fought a real monster, a really brilliant fighter where Mayweather wasn’t the favourite going in for once. He’s never had to dig down and get back up from painful and embarrassing knockdowns, never had to take an official loss and rework his game to come back stronger, never had to lose round after round and still manage to find a way to knock the other guy out.

Is he just too good for his era? Would his opponents have become legends if he wasn’t alive right now? Or are they simply not good enough to really test him and provide him with the kind of glowing unforgettable moments that we see when Leonard turns the tide against Hearns, or when Ali knocks out Foreman?

[FONT=&quot]If he had been born into another (stronger) era, would he be perceived as far greater or far worse? [/FONT]

 

Hey, I'm a Mayweather fan. He boxes beautifully at times.

I just don't rate an old DLH, fairly limited Ricky Hatton or collapse-when-going-get's-tough Zab Judah very highly. I can't call them truly great fighters/legends. DLH comes the closest, but he was far past his prime when Mayweather fought him, and it was easy to see that.

 

Except for the fact that wins over old, highly faded versions of Mosley and Hoya don't really mean a great deal. Age can completely and utterly change a fighter to the point where it's like they're a different person completely. Hatton is definitely a very good win, but he wasn't a monster -- if anything, he went into that fight as the underdog, and Mayweather went in as the favourite. The biggest surprise of the night for most people was that Mayweather knocked him out instead of outpointing him, not that Mayweather won.

Cotto would be a good win.