When Floyd had moved up to 140 .. HE WANTED TO FIGHT HATTON AND COTTO AND KOSTYA BUT THEY DID NOT WANT TO FIGHT HIM OR for Cotto his "management" did not want him to fight Mayweather either.. get it straight.. MAYWEATHER CALLED ALL OF THEM OUT.. once Floyd was a welterweight HE CALLED SHANE AND OSCAR OUT AS WELL. Lets go thru the list of excuses against Floyds victories shall we: -Gatti: hes an old bum fact: former IBF super featherweight champion former WBC junior welterweight champion -Mitchell: old fact: former WBA junior welterweight champion former IBF junior welterweight champion -Judah: overrated b level frontrunner fact: former IBF junior welterweight champion former WBC WBA AND IBF undisputed welterweight champion -Balthazar: a nobody and a journeyman fact: former undisputed welterweight champion -De La Hoya: past his prime do I really need to list his accomplishments? -Hatton: natural 140 lber who had no business fighting at welterweight and had already "lost" to Collazo. fact: former 2 time IBF junior welterweight champion former WBA junior welterweight champion former WBA welterweight champion Floyd beat these fighters either way you want to talk about it or re word it or add to the list of excuses, he beat them. Some of you just dont understand boxing...:verysad
I do agree that his comp is a bit underrated but I think you killed it when mentioned "Balthazar" as a former opponent. It's kind of degrading to his comp if you don't even know their names. Haha
There's a difference of saying your gonna fight, and then fighting. Shane Mosley didn't fight Mayweather, but whose fault was that you think, honestly? Diego Corrales wanted to fight Mayweather with all those personal and financial problems, but Shane Mosley was too scared to fight Mayweather? And Kostya's too chicken too? If Mayweather ever did truly want to fight Kostya, it was probably when Tsyu got way too old and he knew that. Sometimes, I think Mayweather is the Ricky Hatton of America. He needs every ref and judge to help him, and he needs to fight in the city he's comfortable in. Mayweather is much more talented than Hatton, but why does he need to act like Hatton then? I wish Mayweather would let the great fights and matchups come to him naturally. He should stay in the toughest division, and let every mandatory come to him. Clean everything out, then talk.
Mayweather always had Kostya on his radar. Kostya was absent from Boxing for two years. That should be factored in. Mayweather had barley moved up to 135 then up to 140 when KT was hurt. Kostya would have had problems chasing Mayweather around. It would have been a great fight. Urkal beat on K.T. I would favor Mayweather in the fight.
You clearly don't understand boxing if you don't understand that Floyd didn't beat a single one of the above fighters either in their prime, at their prime weight, or during the periods where they held those titles, aside from B level Baldomir(who you referred to as Balthazar because he is such an obscure, worthless fighter). Hatton was fighting at 147, where he had proved his lack of worth against Collazo. De La Hoya was well past his prime and aside from a win over Mayorga hadn't done anything significant in a while. Judah had just come off a loss to B level Baldomir and lost to every single top level fighter he ever fought aside from Spinks in the rematch. Baldomir was, as has been said, a B level fighter through and through, absolutely no challenge whatsoever. Mitchell and Gatti, while once accomplished, were well past their primes at the time Floyd got to them, and Gatti was never more than a B level fighter, even in his prime, he proved it against top competition such as De La Hoya. The fact that he has these fighters names on his resume isn't as impressive when you actually look at the circumstances(hell, some of the names aren't very impressive in the first place). If someone beat the likes of Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Norton, etc all today at the age they're at now, that would give them a pretty impressive resume in terms of names, would it not? Is anyone going to actually argue those were quality wins, or anything above average?
Mayweather is a freak no doubt, but Tsyu was very good at cutting off the ring, I've never seen anyone better than him at that. That added with Kostya's big straight right , I think it was too much of a risk. Mayweather always needs that Plan B or C of running and avoiding, just in case Plan A doesn't work. Well, Mayweather and Tsyu are retired, and both are very good, and I should just leave it at that.
Notice how most of these say "former", in their case past prime. No doubt at lightweight and super feather Floyd was the MAN. but come on not at welter where he was carefully choosing his opponents.
And please note that with the Ali, Frazier, Foreman comparison I was just making a point. There's more to quality wins than simply quality names and/or accomplishments on paper. You have to take everything into account.
No you see.. I agree with some of you that Floyd is not completley proven as the top welterweight (Even though technically he is THE lineal champ) because there are challenges out there left .. This is what I hate... when you guys disregard most of Floyds early work and use every reason you can think of to make Floyds past victories seem like nothing
Dont say I dont understand boxing I probably understand it more than you do because atleast I dont make as many lame excuses as you do against a great fighter for his victories.. Im done trying to get my point across as politely and as non abrasively as possibleim just going to start being more blunt and in your face about my feelings here. Secondly did you not read where I put that FLOYD DID WANT TO FIGHT COTTO AND HATTON @140 so blame them just as much for not wanting the fight before! get it got it good? Even after he fought Baldomir HE SAID HE WANTED MOSLEY.. but of course if the fight would have happened and Floyd won a close fight you would say "he cant even handle a past his prime Mosley Margarito will tear him up" but yet when Cotto earns a tough win over him its regarded as one of his greatest victories is it not? Excuses can be made and situations re worded to suit your own judgement you want to make about a fighter especially when you dislike him like you do Mayweather.
its a steep uphill battle when it comes to arguing about Mayweathers accomplishments anywhere, let alone on this board. im just saying that you should expect that. Floyd haters outweigh his fans by alot. i think thats the main reason why he retired.