Will Floyd Mayweather become more well appreciated as time goes on?

The top two welterweights that Floyd might have faced at the beginning of 2008 were Cotto and Williams; ultimately, Floyd faced Cotto four years later and can extrapolate a similar result had they fought a few years earlier. But we never got around to seeing Floyd vs Williams so we can't say for certain how a match-up might have fared at that point. I think Floyd probably does what Lara did- and gets the decision that Lara probably deserved. But I can't say for certain.

That's really the only reason why I say it stands as the one relevant guy that Floyd missed in his welterweight run.

Of course, if he faces a younger and more celebrated Cotto instead, people at the time wouldn't have complained, either.

 

Well, Williams lost to Quintana in February of 2008 which is an issue. Floyd fought Hatton only three months earlier.

 

I grant that Williams didn't do himself any favors by losing to Quintana. And he never really got the win that established himself as being someone that Floyd had to face.

 

Resume is a large part of it. How can it not be?

There are bigger and better hitlists out there, so right away that fails.

If arguing 50-0 is "tbe", there is a 51-0 out there, so that fails too.

If we're going by the eye test, well, there are good cases to be made that Floyd should have gotten the L in a few of his fights and when a guy like Maidana gives you all you can handle, then you fail the eye test at being 'tbe' when dudes like Hearns and Duran are around. Let's say nothing about the Conor fight where a 0-0-0 boxer was competitive and had Floyd covering up like the fat kid getting bullied on the playground.

If we're going by "name value" on the resume a lot of those wins come with asterisks. For example:

* Floyd waited till Pac was old and he was no longer as explosive as he was, so that he had the stylistic edge
* Floyd fought a green Canelo and drained him to death

etc ...

This whole thread is a fail.

The premise that Floyd is "tbe" when he isn't "tbe" in any category is laughable.

But kudos to the thread starter for his "I'm not really a Floyd fan even though I live in his underwear drawer" angle.

 

Well, that blueprint didn't work very well in the rematch.

Anyhow, it might only be in hindsight that Margarito and Williams look like his most wortwhile opponents at WW during those years. While I think Williams especially would be a tricky opponent, they only held the WBO title and the window with Williams as title holder was quite short, as you say.

The window was somewhat longer with Kostya, though, and with him being such a dominant force for so long at 140, you'd think that a fight could be made before he lost to Hatton and retired. Anyone know what happened there?

 

You could say he's tbe in these categories:
130
fighters who went 49-0 or better before losing
PPV sales
Pfp ranking past age 35
Pfp ranking, total years
Probably comeback after retirement (post Hatton)

 

tbh I think Kid Chocolate and Tony Canzoneri disagree with you on PBF being the best ever at 130.

 

The Margarito fight wasn't gonna happen because of Arum. His peak also coincided with Mayweather's retirement. I think both Williams and Margarito would've been one sided wins for Mayweather, but they would've been fun to watch.

Tszyu had his second fight with Mitchell in 2004 and lost to Hatton in 2005. Floyd fought Corley and Brussels in his first 140 fights/WBC eliminators in 2004 (this year sucked for Floyd) and then beat Gatti in 2005 for the WBC. The time to make the fight would've been after the Gatti and Hatton fights but it was off the table already. I also remember Tsyzu being contracted to Showtime and Floyd with HBO.

 

H2h it's pretty easy to argue.

 

^ A more reasonable argument.

 

This is dragging on a little... Can we just agree that Floyd has a decent shout for top 30, a very outside chance of top 20, and little chance of ever going above that... Certainly never top 10? (haha I'm just playing devil's advocate here by giving my own ratings, so obviously I agree)

 

Agreed dragging on ... almost as much as the who was taller thread of Louis, foreman, and Norton which is going on 12 pages

 

In a perfect world, the one who has established himself as the best at 130 and 135 would naturally face the one who has established himself as the best at 140 when making the move up. And in this case it could definitely been done after Kostya had beat Mitchell in the rematch. No other fight could possibly have made as much sense at 140. But in the politics of boxing it's often hard to know exactly why the most logical fights don't happen.

 

I'm pretty sure Hatton was a bigger money fight for Tsyzu at the time.