By AK: Here we have one the greatest boxers of all time, yet Floyd Mayweather Jr. remains to be one of the most hated and controversial sportsmen alive. Not many boxers can get booed fighting in their own country against someone that is not against Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather managed to get booed during the weigh in, entrance, and even when he was announced the winner.

So why do ‘we’ hate Mayweather? I am only putting ‘we’ in quotation marks because I do not consider myself to be part of that group. No matter the sport I enjoy watching greatness, whether it is watching Roger Federer play tennis, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi on the football pitch, Usain Bolt on the tracks, or even Michael Phelps swimming. You cannot take anything away from none of them as they are all great and have all worked hard for their success. Everyone seems to love an underdog until they become favorites.

Yes, Mayweather does live a crazy lifestyle that a lot of people are either envious or just think its plain wrong. Yes, Mayweather has served 90 days in jail for battery upon his former girlfriend Josie Harris. But for those people that hate Mayweather based on his personal life have no reason to judge him unless you know him personally. There is not a man in the world without flaws. Mayweather is a boxer and his personal life should not get in the way of his greatness in the ring.

Regarding him as a boxer, a lot of people say he runs and that he is boring. To me he is just a fast, intelligent defensive fighter. No one who has been inside a boxing ring wants to get hit and that probably explains why so many boxers and ex boxers such as Mikey Garcia, Tim Bradley, Keith Thurman, Mike Tyson, Frank Bruno, Amir Khan, and Carl Froch were all praising Floyd Mayweather for his performance against Pacquiao. I would rather watch a defensive fighter fight then a brawler like Marcos Maidana who puts his head down and throwing random punches hoping one lands. Defensive fighters are really a beauty to watch when it is perfected. Past fighters like Willie Pep and Nicolino Locche are really magnificent defensive fighters to watch. I would recommend watching old clips of Locche who had a record of 136 fights and managed to win 113 of them by decision.

Many great fighters have been hated in the past when they were active. Jack Johnson in the early years of the 20th century was probably one of the most hated black man in America who later went on to become the first African American heavyweight champion. Joe Louis was hated a lot especially for ending white supremacy in the heavyweight division. Sonny Liston caught a lot of flak for his attitude and criminal record. Muhammad Ali received a lot of hate for his trash talking, refusal to go to the Vietnam War, and for converting to Muslim. Larry Holmes received a lot of criticism for never beating anyone in their prime and for not having much competition. Mike Tyson has a criminal record for rape, and his famous allocation with Evander Holyfield caused a lot of people to turn on him. Lennox Lewis many considered boring which made people dislike him. Prince Naseem Hamed was hated for his arrogance. Oscar de la Hoya for being the PPV king for so long. I am sure there are many more fighters that were hated while they were active in boxing. All of the fighters mentioned in this paragraph are all hall of famers and were all great in there era. This shows that all greats have received some sort of hate in the past. They say that if you are not hated you’re doing it wrong.

As of right now in my opinion the top 3 pound for pound are Andre Ward, Wladimir Klitschko, Floyd Mayweather Jr. Floyd Mayweather for beating the best and for no one having a chance to beat him from 147lb to 154lb. Klitschko for dominating the heavyweight division for so long and for always fighting his mandatory challengers. Even though Andre Ward had been inactive for nearly 2 years, he was still the same Ward against Paul Smith. Ward has never really been in trouble in any fight and also has managed to beat all the best in the middleweight division. And an interesting fact is that the last time Ward lost is in 1998 at the age of 14.

All three, Ward, Klitschko, and Floyd Mayweather Jr are hated by a lot of boxing fans because of their domination in their weight class. I believe people should just accept and appreciate great boxers and instead of hating on them admire greatness and maybe you can then be inspired by greatness.