Was Pacquaio Mayweather's last chance?

Doesn't matter what they say. If the fight takes place you can bet it will be at the full limit.

Oscar in 07' was a more dangerous fight than Canelo today.

 

margarito sucks

 

I fault him for missing Margarito, closer-to-prime Mosley, Williams, and a handful of others, but the main guys he missed Tszyu and Pacquiao, unfortunately. Tszyu would have been a massive name to add to his ledger, as would have a 140 version of Hatton now that I think about it, but I can pardon Mayweather for missing those.

Pacquiao, conversely, is not just a star but a lock-in, high level operator of an ATG. That may be past tense, now, but I digress. Anyhoo, when such a fighter is at your weight class and you do not take him on, especially given the fracas that surrounded the whole affair, it really takes a toll on one's career. Had Mayweather not only not acted foolish but went on to face Pacquiao, I wholly believe he would be viewed differently.

I could cite numerous examples, but I will go with Frazier and Ali. Much of Frazier's greatness is attributed to his win over Ali, despite his for the most part sterling but not overly impressive career. Ali, conversely, has a lot of detractors due to being a colorful figure whose politics and public relations, like all athletes, may/will affect perception of him by some of the public. However, he redressed any doubt about his boxing ability and willingness to prove himself a champion by who he took on. Did he have to put himself through hell and back to win the heavyweight title three times? No. His greatness was long solidified prior, but he always sought to fortify it. Beyond that, he has career defining wins which can make a career on their own, kind of like Frazier over Ali. Do either of these scenarios apply to Floyd? Negative!

Also, this illusory contingent of "haters" is not some clear dichotomy or segment of the population. It isn't black and white nor is it necessarily a sizable majority of the boxing audience. Basing posts and commentary off of them is pointless and self-serving.

 

Pacquiao was the fight that would have put mayweather on SRR level, on ali level.

Of course it was probably the only fit flood could have made in the last few years where flood had a genuine risk of ko.

He ducked him, SRL waited until haggler was shot to bits.

I place mayweather just below SRL

 

Williams would have destroyed any version of mayweather, it was smart to duck him.

Hand wrap Marg was too dangerous

Young Mosley was a 50/50 fight

Pacman is way ahead of mayweather on the atg list.

 

Here's the benefit of hindsight coming through, load of rubbish - Hagler was 32. His last 2 fights was the war against Mugabe where he KO'd him, and the fight before that was Hearns.

Hagler HAD slowed down a bit, no doubt! Saying the man was shot to bits is just the biggest exaggeration I have read on this board...

And of course, Leonard's 1 fight in 5 years and climbing 2 weight classes obviously doesn't mean a thing

 

:nono

 

This.

 

:deal yup

 

Pac was a hype job created by Bob Arum

 

There's not enough decent competition left for Mayweather to make up for the fighters he missed. So yeah, Pacquiao definitely was his last chance. Beating Canelo would only make up a tiny bit for it. He'll still be remembered for the others.

 

Stick to tennis, ***.