Floyd Mayweather Jr Stands Alone As Boxing’s Only Superstar and True Champion

By Boxing News - 06/15/2015 - Comments

Floyd Mayweather vs Manny PacquiaoBy Chester Rivers: Name another boxer who has as many ppv sales as Floyd Mayweather Jr. Name another fighter who has more titles is as many weights against the lineal champion of that particular weight class. Name another current fighter whose legacy is without question an all time great. Love him or hate him you have to admit that Mayweather is boxing’s lone superstar and the only true champion.

It seem as though the only person capable of breaking the sales record of a Floyd Mayweather Jr. ppv event is Floyd Mayweather Jr. Mayweather and De la Hoya set the bar in 2007 when their fight garnered 2.4 million buys. Since then the only fights that has come remotely close to that number were Mayweather’s 2013 contest versus Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and his record setting fight against Manny Pacquiao.

Mayweather vs. Alvarez was purchased by 2.2 million buyers. Mayweather’s domination of Manny Pacquiao broke all records with 4.4 million buys in the United States alone. The 4.4 million buys generated nearly 400 million U.S. dollars. A lot of people try an make the argument that Mayweather’s success in sales are based on his opponents. If that is the case, why haven’t any of those opponents (De La Hoya, Alvarez or Pacquiao) sold anywhere near these amounts without Mayweather?

Mayweather is the only active fighter that is considered the lineal champion in multiple divisions. Ring Magazine and several other boxing publications have Floyd Mayweather Jr. ranked as the champion at both Welterweight and Junior Middleweight. Mayweather has since vacated all titles. Of Mayweather’s 5 titles in multiple divisions only the Junior Welterweight title versus Arturo Gatti was against an alphabet title holder. At the time Kosta Tzuyu was considered the champion at 140 but lost his title earlier that month to Ricky Hatton. Mayweather had been calling out Tzuyu but he opted to fight Hatton instead. Genaro Hernandez (130), Jose Luis Castillo (135), Carlos Baldomir (147) and Oscar De La Hoya (154) were all considered the lineal champions at the time of their defeat to Mayweather. Manny Pacquiao historically has more multiple weight titles at 8 but, only 3 of those titles were for or against the lineal championship of the division (Lehlohonolo Ledwaba 122, Marco Antonio Barrera 126 and Barrera 130). Miguel Cotto has 4 division championships but, the only title won versus the lineal champion is his current Middleweight championship won against Sergio Martinez. Cotto was considered an alphabet champion at 140, 147 and 154. When Cotto was put into a position to become the lineal champion he lost his bid to Antonio Margarito (147) and Floyd Mayweather Jr (154).

Why is Mayweather Jr the only current fighter who’s constantly being compared to other greats from different eras? No one else in boxing except for Floyd Mayweather Jr. have been mentioned or compared to the likes of Ray Robinson, Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran and Marvin Hagler. Is it respect by those who refuse to admit he’s the best? Is it an concession that no current fighter is capable of defeating him so we’re left with “what if”? Love him or hate him, Mayweather Jr is the only fighter that is a legitimate superstar and he’s probably the last of the true champions.



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