By Kirby (Kwest) Edwards: It’s a good thing for a boxer to believe they are the best, because after all, that’s how we became so blessed to have a man around called, ‘The Greatest.’ But the unfortunate thing about today’s critics in the sport of boxing is this; As if we didn’t always have a sore eye on the sport, a mandatory title defense system has been put into place to sort of help them along in their inaccuracies about who is the best.
Whether you are a fan or professional analyst, many criticisms are not based on real facts or stats, and thus who is the best, but more on who is the favorite. The favorites have outnumbered the best, in the same way that the lie spreads faster than the truth.
If you had a favorite professional fighter that had the ability to mix it up inside, good enough ring generalship to fight effectively from the outside, and challenged every fighter who thought they were the best … then your fighter may not be around today. These types of fighters gave it all in the ring years ago by fighting wars and giving you all the real reasons to be a fan? A fighter today, with a long career could easily lend credits of longevity to the lack of battle. Without sluggers in the middle of the road today to test and road-block future defensive, boxer champions, the boxing trail to greatness today has left a sort of easy trail for many fighters to follow. The term “Hit and Not Get Hit” is merely a cliché, not a staple slogan and not a reality in the sport at all. It’s good for when a fighter is practicing his art in the gym. But, don’t be miss-led! It’s not only the outside fighters who manage to escape being hit. This terminology seems to apply more to the politics of the sport now, than it does in the actual ring. In a lot of circles, if you didn’t trade blows in a fight, it was called “running.” But if you avoided a talented fighter all together, that was also called running.
In the eighties there were fighters like John “The Beast” Mugabi and Don Lee who knocked out 20 of their first 20 or more fighters. Tyson won 26 of his first 28 by KO and Thomas Hearns knocked out 31 of his first 33 fighters. By the time Julio Caesar Chavez, and Roberto Duran had 60 fights, only less than 10 of them heard the last bell. There were others like ‘Marvelous’ Marvin Hagler, Edwin Rosario, Aaron ‘The Hawk’ Pryor and Alexis Arguello, who were always on the prowl with 80-90 percent knock-out ratios. But enough for the heavy punchers! Toss in the mention of Donald Curry, Milton McCrory, ‘Joltin’ Jeff Chandler, Michael Olajide, Michael Nunn, Jimmy Young and Howard Davis Jr, who were also good fighters in other divisions. They had from average, to much less than average knock-out percentages. But they took the chance of being knocked out, rather than to avoid the best fighters. And in so doing, they entered the ring with the best available, and come out with the best respect.
In those days, with the influx of tough guys in every division, great ‘stick-n-move fighters like Pernell Whitaker, Hector Camacho and Sugar Ray Leonard starting to use the gym to work on more inside fighting. They did this simply to keep up with the business of being among the best. George Foreman was a slugger who trained for 6 months to run and catch up with Ali’s speed … only to find himself early in the fight, resorting back to being a slugger. Ali’s shock, with the use of the famous ‘Rope-A-Dope’ tactic, was all it took to make the statement to everyone that, “greatness comes with a price.” We know that once a fighter is accomplished in their style, whatever it may be, it takes a lot for them to transform that. But it adds a lot more excitement and marketability to a fighter … and so the fight game gets even better than it had been the day before.
If you are old enough to remember a heavy hitting heavyweight fighter named Ron Lyle, then you may know that Lyle was from my home town of Dayton, Ohio. But seriously … Lyle faced Foreman at 35 yrs old while Foreman was only 27 at the time. Foreman came to make quick work, earn a quick check and make a quick exit. Instead, he found himself in a slugfest. The fight featured four knock downs in only five rounds, and each fighter hitting the canvas twice. Lyle was the only man to ever handle Foreman like Foreman handled everyone else. Ron Lyle lost the fight, but in the eyes of real fighters and fight fans, he won serious recognition. Ron Lyle fought a lot of wars, with victories over other heavy hitters like Earnie Shaver, Oscar Bonavena and Buster Mathis. Lyle fought as a professional for approximately 23 yrs and into his early fifties and never won a title. He did it all mostly because he loved it. He retired with an impressive record of 51-7-1-43. Included in his record was a unanimous decision loss to the crafty defensive genius Jimmy Young. I use Ron Lyle and Jimmy Young when talking about Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and the upcoming match, with Mayweather vs Canelo to make a point. Ron Lyle was quite old by boxing standards when he entered the pro ranks at around the age of 30 … the age a lot of fighters were retiring from boxing in those days. And just at the pace of Ron Lyle alone, Floyd Mayweather, who started his career at 19 yrs old, would have to more than double his previous oppositions in order to equal the activity records of these two men.
Now, even if we all agreed to lump Floyd Mayweather among the best three of all time, and assuming Ali and ‘Sugar’ Ray Robinson were the top two. The pieces wouldn’t fit in any category that would merit Mayweather a place in history among these great men. Beginning with the records … Mayweather took 17yrs to build a 44-0 record. Ali took only 13yrs to build 42-2, and Robinson had a record of 43-1 in just 3yrs. Canelo has challenged nearly the same amount of opposition as Mayweather, and in only 5 years … almost one fourth the amount of time as ‘Money’ Mayweather. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alverez actually stacks up better with Robinson than Ali and Mayweather, in the area of activity. Now let’s take a look another category that define greatness. Bernard Hopkins and Larry Holmes are among the top 25 fighters in title defenses. Hopkins and Holmes have both defended their titles 20 times. Ali had 19 defenses and Felix Trinidad and Julio Caesar Chavez are close with 16 defenses each. The one place that Mayweather has a chance at fitting in with the likes of the great Ray Robinson is that neither, ‘Sugar’ Ray Robinson or Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather is even among the top 50 in title defenses.
Mayweather may have a few reasons for why he refused to fight “Pac-Man.” Perhaps, among those reasons, money was honestly one of them. There is a category I must admit, that Floyd Mayweather may dominate alone. However, it has no connection at all within the talent and courage that escalated him to his heights. Looking back at all the great fighters who are among us now, and who are no longer around, absolutely none of them should be discounted or awarded because of their wealth or lack thereof. But, there is still no statistic in this category of who was the greatest rich or poor fighter ever. So why not Mayweather-vs-Canelo now … or for that matter, why not Canelo-vs- Mayweather now? Many have said; “Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez hasn’t fought nearly the opposition that Floyd Mayweather has fought.” When, actually neither fighter has ever fought the caliber of fighter that either of them will face on Sept 14th, 2013. What they may not be considering is, the biggest names on Mayweather’s resume, like, Gatti, Mitchell, Cotto, Hatton, Mosely, Marquez and Dela Hoya, were mostly low to upper 30s in age, even when Mayweather fought them. At just 23 yrs of age, these men would be far too old for Canelo today, as only Shane Mosley can attest. First of all, paper champs, media darlings and corruption, are certainly not new to the fight game. But eventually, if you’re on the path to greatness, at some point after 30 fights, regardless of how your oppositions match up, you have to consider raising your game to another level. And somewhere during that time, you will meet a challenger who just refuses to let you run, before or during a fight and in or out of the ring, for the ‘pride and not the prize.’
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