By Peter Marinelo: Over the past two years, since the beating of Oscar De La Hoya at the hands of Manny Pacquiao, there has been a very real debate as to who is this generation’s best boxer. The lines in the sand are clearly defined turning a lively debate into a virtual war with both sides spewing venomous statements littered with racism and outright ignorance. More level headed fans of each fighter make valid arguments as to why their man is the face of modern boxing and this generation’s prized pugilist. Floyd’s sophisticated mastery of the sweet science versus Manny Pacquiao’s raw fury and warrior’s heart.

But how did we find ourselves at this point? A question that even Floyd Mayweather must be asking at this very moment. Just over three years ago, this type of conversation wouldn’t be taking place. It was common knowledge that Floyd Mayweather was the undisputed king of the sport and Manny Pacquiao, while a great fighter is his own rite, was still only known to his Filipino followers and people who regularly follow the sport. Then Oscar De La Hoya, after he couldn’t land a re-match with Floyd Mayweather, picked the smaller Filipino in an effort to make a descent payday.

In Floyd, you have a man who, throughout the course of his life has been dedicated to being the best that boxing has ever seen. A man who has the most potential to actually achieve that goal more than any other fighter in the sport today, yet somehow falls short like the rest. So how is the guy who knows every trick in the book still not the obvious choice over the guy who’s maybe only on the fourth chapter?
As of this moment, it is absolutely irrefutable that the best who’s ever done it is Sugar Ray Robinson. Some people may say Leonard, or Louis, or even Ali based on ability and opponents beaten. All four of these men were larger than life in the way they carried themselves but what sets Robinson apart from the pack is, that more than the others listed, Robinson proved his greatness on more occasion against more future Hall of Famers. He fought anyone and everyone, even avenging his first loss to Jake LaMotta only three weeks after taking that loss. When you think about that in today’s terms, it’s absolutely mind boggling. Of course the game was a lot different back then.

Indeed the times have changed and with it, the nature of the game. Even Mayweather acknowledges this fact when asked why he doesn’t fight more than once or twice a year. Thanks to Bob Arum, Don King, and Mike Tyson, the biggest fights in boxing have been ripped from the regular T.V audience and dangled in front of the boxing public for a price. Mayweather, for his part, is simply playing the game. He chooses to fight defensively because he doesn’t want to end up a deteriorated former boxer like so many greats before him. He fights only a couple times a year, against carefully chosen opponents, to increase the earning potential of each fight so he doesn’t end up broke, again like so many greats of the past. While this is par for the course for superstars in modern boxing, his application of these practices seems to hurt him more than other current fighters. But why is this so?