By Ryan Harris: Floyd Mayweather (41-0, 25 KO’s) is arguably one of the greatest fighters we have witnessed within the squared circle in the last decade, and many think he is the pound for pound king of recent years. Mayweather boasts an impressive record, a perfect one. Most of his bouts, he has won with style and ease, making most of his opponents look amateur. As a 9-time 5-weight champion, Mayweather truly is a master ring technician, and no one can question his achievements.
But how does Floyd compare to Muhammad Ali in terms of greatness? I have decided to compare a modern day legend against an all time legend. For this to work it has to be thought of on a strictly a pound for pound level, so the fighters are the same size. I started with a list of twelve attributes then scored the fighter who I feel is stronger in that area with one point. They are as follows:
Amateur career– Ali wins having won the Gold Medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics. Floyd only won a bronze, although it was a controversial loss; it was still a loss.
Age to win first title– Floyd wins this category, having won his first title against Genaro Hernandez in 1998, at the age of 21 with an 8th round stoppage over Hernandez. Ali was aged 22 when he won his first title.
Big fights– With Ali’s heart stopping fights against Sonny Liston, epic battles against Joe Frazier and an monumentally historic fight against George Foreman, Ali has to take this one. Floyd just hasn’t found opponents in the same caliber.
Record– Floyd wins, having an unblemished record with 41 fights is very impressive, whilst Ali lost 5 fights throughout his career.
Speed– Ali takes this. In his early career, his stinging jab was incredibly fast. Many of his opponents stated they could not see his punches coming. Floyd likewise is incredibly fast, but I feel Ali is slightly faster.
Power– They both receive a point here. I feel neither man has one punch knockout power as most of there knockdowns come as flash knockdowns, as a result of quick punches, or stopped as a result of a very accurate combination.
Defense– This goes to Floyd. His watertight defense in incredible, opponents can barely penetrate it. His cat like reflexes and great head movement mean he can quickly dodge punches. The way he uses the shoulder roll technique to block large amount of punches (think back to the Oscar De La Hoya fight. I counted eleven blocked punches at one point in the fight) is leaps and bounds in front of Ali’s defense.
Offense– this goes to Ali, as he could fight very well going forward or backwards depending on which tactic he was using. Floyd, on the other hand, is a counter-puncher. He fights mostly on the back foot and works from his opponents offense.
Movement– This is a very hard choice to make because early in his career Ali had amazing movement. But I have decided to give the point to Floyd due to Ali losing his footwork in the later stages of his career. Floyd has been very consistent, even after his two year spell of inactivity. He never lost footwork as he proved in the Juan Manuel Marquez fight in September 2009.
Ring smarts– this undoubtedly goes to Ali because he always managed to have a psychological advantage over his opponents. An excellent example of his amazing generalship in the Foreman fight. Ali was a huge underdog going in to the fight; He leaned against the ropes until Foreman was so tired he could hardly lift his arms, then Ali scored a remarkable knockdown.
Chin– Floyd takes this one. Throughout his career, he has never been in any form of trouble apart from his most recent bout against Shane Mosley, when in the second round Mayweather looked in danger, but he dealt with it very well. Ali, on the other hand, went down numerous times in his career.
Now the score stands at six points each. The last attribute is the one in my mind that secures Ali’s place as the the greatest.
Charisma– every boxing fan should be grateful to Ali. He captured the public’s imagination and had the whole world talking about boxing. His pre-fight antics shaped the sport to what we love today. Years later all fans love and respect what he done for us. Long may it continue. I, for one, think the boxing would not be the same today if it wasn’t for Ali. Rumble, young man, rumble.
Floyd Mayweather: “I respect what [Sugar Ray] Robinson and Ali done for the sport, but I am the greatest and this is my time.” Not quite, Floyd.
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