Floyd Mayweather Jr. and the Lonely Boat to Greatness

By Boxing News - 06/20/2015 - Comments

Floyd Mayweather JrBy Adam McMeeking: Is Floyd Mayweather Jr. the greatest boxer of his era? He was brought up in an overcrowded house that often lacked electricity. Floyd Mayweather’s upbringing was tough, but he was always destined to be a prize-fighter. Floyd Senior, his father, once fought Sugar Ray Leonard, and his Uncle Jeff, shared a ring with and Oscar De La Hoya.

His uncle Roger is a former two time world champion. At the age of seven, “Little Floyd” was fitted with his first pair of boxing gloves, and he soon became a regular at his neighborhood gym, which was just a stone’s throw away from his family home.

“The Best Ever” is the moniker that Mayweather has awarded himself. Is he? Probably not, but in the immediate aftermath of the “Fight of the Century”, floods of journalists and boxing experts promptly crowned Floyd Mayweather, “the best of his era”. When exactly did “his era” begin though, and other than Manny Pacquiao, who else did he eclipse to earn this accolade? If a boxer is,”the best”, then is he automatically also “the greatest”, or are these two highly prestigious titles, which give the wearer boxing immortality, distinguishable from one another?
The word “era” is a little vague, but it seems reasonable to say that Mayweather’s commenced on October 3rd, 1998, the night Pretty Boy Floyd dominated Genaro Hernandez, forcing the Californian’s corner to stop the fight after the eighth round, capturing his WBC and lineal super featherweight titles in the process.
In the seventeen years and thirty fights that have followed, Floyd has collected ten further world titles across four other weight divisions, including another three lineal titles. The all-star list of opponents he has faced would be enough to send three or four boxers to the hall of fame. While his critics will argue that as a professional he has never fought outside of America, and that some of the most accomplished names on his record had all seen better days, the likes of Diego Corrales, Jose Luis Castillo, Ricky Hatton, and Saul Alvarez, were close to their zenith when they attempted to defeat him. The fact he beat them, along with forty four other opponents throughout his career without losing, is mind-boggling. Between 1998-2015, Roy Jones Junior, Shane Mosley, Oscar De La Hoya, and Evander Holyfield all fought, but a significant portion of their success came in the years prior. Bernard Hopkins, Lennox Lewis, and Joe Calzaghe reigned supreme in their respective divisions, but Floyd proved to be flawless against a higher number of elite level opponents, and they were sprinkled throughout not just one or two, but five divisions.

It is now midway through 2015 and Floyd has shown minimal deterioration, but no era lasts forever, Floyd’s time is almost up, we just don’t know the final page. Heavyweight great Gene Tunney made an exit on his terms, retiring as champion. Roy Jones Junior on the other hand, continues to fight, even though his era was brutally terminated the night Antonio Tarver chillingly knocked him out eleven years ago.

Pacquiao appeared to be Mayweather’s closest threat but suffered a harrowing knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012, followed by a disappointing loss to Money himself. Mayweather has finally outlasted and outfoxed everyone. He has repeatedly demonstrated his skills to be ”of the highest quality”, and proven he is the “most effective” pugilist since his first world championship victory almost two decades ago, so yes, by the very definition of the word, he is the best.

“When it comes to greatness it takes a whole lot more than just being undefeated”, Laila Ali recently declared via the nydailynews.com, when discussing Mayweather’s overall standing in the history books. Floyd is certainly not “just” an undefeated boxer, no sane person would seriously suggest that, but the daughter of the heavyweight legend, herself a formidable former boxer in her own right, makes a valid point. “Great”, according to the Collins Dictionary, can be defined as, a person “of exceptional talents or achievements; remarkable”. An undefeated record could definitely add to someone’s achievement, but surely the magnitude of an achievement is closely linked to the potential difficulty of the challenge? Surely the manner in which an opponent is vanquished affects how remarkable the triumph is viewed? Over the last seventeen years, when assessing greatness, three men stand out.

After Mayweather’s first world title victory, Lennox Lewis fought nine times, compiling a record of 7-1-1, with five wins coming via stoppage. On November 19th, 1999, Lewis defeated Holyfield to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Riddick Bowe in 1992. Lennox was willing to fight anywhere, making defences in America, England and South Africa. Born in London, England, in 1965, to Jamaican parents, but winning an Olympic gold medal for Canada in 1988, Lennox really was a true heavyweight champion, of the world. He avenged his loss to Rahman, and then, in his final fight, unmotivated, and with the glamour and riches of the $112 million dollar Tyson victory behind him, Lewis weighed in at the heaviest weight of his career, 256 pounds, for a fight with late substitute, Vitali Klitschko. Lennox was able to grasp victory from his young, hungry challenger, by launching a vicious right hand, which ripped a jagged cut over Vitali’s left eye, giving the referee no choice but to end the fight after six violent rounds. Shortly after Lewis’ retirement, Dr. Ironfist became the Ring Magazine champion, and never lost again, making the Briton’s victory over the six foot seven inches Ukrainian in 2003, on reflection, all the more impressive.
Lewis-Tyson was the highest grossing heavyweight fight of all-time, watched by almost 2 million American pay per view households. A record high 4.4 million homes purchased the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight, making it the most watched fight of Floyd’s professional career by some distance.

Manny may not receive the riches that Floyd makes from his American pay per view public, but he clearly gets the attention of the Filipino people – he is part of their culture. In the Philippines 15 million television containing homes cater for approximately 75 million people. Kantar Media Philippines reports that over 40% of these homes watched Pacquiao’s fights with Clottey, Margarito, Hatton, Cotto and Mayweather, making them five of the most viewed “programs” in the country’s television history.

Floyd’s performances in the ring are normally intriguing and watchable: a painter creating a masterpiece. They rarely however, contain the action-packed drama that a prize-fight is renowned for, such as the spectacular destruction generated when Lewis sent Michael Grant crashing around the ring in Madison Square Garden, or when Pacquiao disfigured Antonio Margaritio’s face in front of a crowd of 40,000 in Texas.

Two months and one day after Mayweather had beaten Hernandez, far away from the glitz of Las Vegas, Manny Pacquiao, weighing less than 112 pounds, ventured to Thailand to challenge the WBC and lineal flyweight champion, Chatchai Sasakul. This reckless and unrefined version of Pacquiao was largely out-boxed by the experienced champion, but in the eighth round he hit the target with what became his trademark left hand bomb, knocking the Thai out to take his first world title.

His record in “Mayweather’s era” reads 41-5-1. During this time Pacquiao has won and/or defended an array of titles across eight weight divisions, in America, the Philippines, Thailand, and in China. Against Sasakul, Lebedwa and Barrera, Pacquiao was the underdog, but when jumping the weight divisions to test his skills against comparative giant Oscar De La Hoya, virtually nobody gave him a chance. In hindsight, Oscar did struggle to make the welterweight limit, but perhaps he never would have been adequately prepared for the firepower that bombarded him on December 6th, 2008. Pacquiao had by now perfected and polished his animalistic nature with trainer Freddie Roach, creating the type of fistic creature a fight fan craves: a lightning quick, attack minded combination puncher, with a blood thirsty, shark-like instinct for ending a fight. Oscar did not fight again after the eight round beating, choosing instead, to retire. A two round demolition of Ricky Hatton for the lineal light welterweight title followed, and then, in a truly magnificent display, Pacquiao brought Miguel Cotto to his knees, forcing the referee to protect the swollen, lacerated and bleeding Puerto Rican from further punishment in the twelfth round. As the year 2009 concluded, the Boxing Writers Association of America, Sports Illustrated and Ring Magazine all named Manny Pacquiao, “the greatest fighter of the decade, 2000-2009”. During this decade of dominance Pacman won twenty five bouts. His lone loss, on points to Erik Morales, was returned with interest – the Mexican was stopped in the second and third fights of their trilogy.

In subsequent years the man known in the Philippines as “The National Fist” remains as popular as ever, and is still a top level boxer, but the frenetic energy and “killer instinct” that made him unique have gradually diminished.
Lewis, Mayweather and Pacquiao have etched their names in boxing history, but who was the greatest of this era?

The story of a fourteen year old boy, born in Kibawe, southern Philippines, who stowed away on a boat and voyaged five hundred miles to Manila in the hope of earning a few dollars to send back to his mother and family, is now well documented throughout the world. Early on in life, he lived alone on the streets of General Santos city, sometimes sleeping in a cardboard box. Selling doughnuts to passersby helped make him a pitiful amount of money, before eventually he stumbled upon a boxing gym in his country’s capital city and had his first professional fight at the illegal age of sixteen. Boxing was his lifeline.
At their best, both Mayweather and Lewis reached the pinnacle of the sport, but their stories did not begin in extreme poverty, with the walls of their home made from coconut leaves. A remarkable, exceptional achievement becomes even greater when you start at zero.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Comments?

Email – DoubleJabWriteCross@Gmail.com

Facebook – DoubleJab WriteCross

“Once that bell rings you’re on your own. It’s just you and the other guy…” Joe Louis

@TripleJabBoxing
FB – Triple Jab Boxing



Comments are closed.