What's the best argument against FMJ being the greatest?

20 great fighters to be sure - but how did McFarland "accomplish more" during his career than Mayweather?

 

I'm not over generalising.

Yes, Im familiar with history.

I said for the most part.

I'm not being argumentative, I'm just noting that for the most part, U.S. and U.S. based fighters, don't have to make the sacrifices that non U.S. based fighters do.

Ali loved to travel. He loved the attention. He was as famous as the Beatles in the 60's and 70's.

He loved his European tour where he flew to Germany to fight Midenbuger, before travelling to other countries. But no, he didn't have to travel. Because most of his top competition were U.S. based, like: Foreman, Frazier, Liston and Norton etc.

Yes, Don King wanted the big fights like the 'Jungle etc' but they could have been made at home.

The biggest fights of recent history have taken place in Vegas. And that is likely to continue.

Yes, the majority of the world's best fighters have almost always been based in the U.S.

No, of course we're not at the end of history. But look at the best fighters in the world and see where they are. We now have European fighters moving out there on a permanent basis and not just fighting there like they did in the past.

 

That's fine, I'm just saying that those guys you mentioned don't meet the criteria which was put forward.

Yes, of course he'd have been great in any era.

 

Drastically. I'm not sure how much, and truth be told I can't be bothered to work it out but I'll say the only fighters I've seen on film that I think are inarguably better than Mayweather, or at least in my eyes, are: Roberto Durán, Ray Robinson, Ezzard Charles and Willie Pep.

My, presumably less popular and slightly hipster, choices are: Miguel Canto, Bazooka Gomez, José Napoles and Éder Jofre. There's be a few others too, but tbh after you get past the first 4 I mentioned you can slot him in wherever.

 

You think Márquez coming up two weights wasn't a factor in their fight?

 

Résumé. To me, his wins over Welsh, Britt, Erne, Britton, Moran and Mike Gibbons are very impressive. Added to that he went from LW to MW, with only 1 loss (a DQ, in his 9th fight) and you have a guy who I find greater than Floyd Mayweather.

 

Doesn't matter to me. If you fight the best anyway, I don't care if you fight lesser than that to keep busy.

 

@DrederickTatum who do you think is better on film?

 

I meant better on film than Mayweather, not out of Mayweather and McFarland. Although I agree with your assessment there.

 

I'm not sure your claims hold even for the most part. Money was the prime driver that brought Ali to Kinshasa and Quezon City. If the world's best welterweight is from the US then I agree with you that it is unlikely in the current climate - and for many previous eras also - that he will make more money elsewhere but that has often been true for lets say a Japanese bantamweight who happens to be the worlds best or a South Korean light-flyweight, and so on. Champions that always fight at home do so for pretty much the same reasons regardless of their country, they get paid well to fight at home and don't want to risk giving opponents any unnecessary advantage by fighting elsewhere.

It is possible to me that there were times when Mayweather could have fought outside the US but mostly i'm sure the money was at home in Vegas and I certainly don't blame him for it but just because he is from the US doesn't mean he gets a pass from the hometown criticism. A hometown US fighter is no different than a German, British, Thai, Japanese, etc hometown fighter, they all had good reasons to fight at home.

I think a more accurate way of saying some of what you have been saying is that for most of boxing history, from the featherweight class upwards, that the US champions have tended to have more money and clout to make the big fights against non-US fighters in the US and therefore have not been forced to travel for financial reasons.