By Dan Ambrose: In a recent interview, Manny Pacquiao said that he’s achieved more in boxing career compared to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and doesn’t need him because of that. Is that true? It seems to me that Mayweather has taken on the bigger names for most of his career compared to Pacquiao. In the past year, Pacquiao has beaten Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey, two fighters that Mayweather never took on, but it’s hard to imagine Mayweather having any problems with either of them. Likewise, Mayweather has fought Shane Mosley, and that’s someone that Pacquiao never fought for some reason. I think Pacquiao would beat Mosley now, but I’m not sure about earlier in Mosley’s career when he was fighting at his very best. It would have been a great fight from start to finish.

Pacquiao did fight a prime Erik Morales, but he lost that fight. When he turned around and beat Morales in their two rematches after that bout, Morales was weight drained in both of them. I’m less impressed with Pacquiao’s wins over Marco Antonio Barrera, because he had already been through numerous wars by the time that Pacquiao fought him and clearly wasn’t the same fighter he once was by the time those fights took place.

Mayweather beat prime fighters like Zab Judah, Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales. Pacquiao doesn’t have similar big names unfortunately. Sadly, Pacquiao’s big fights have been tilted in the last part of his career when he fought and beat Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Cotto and Clottey. Those are all good fighters, but Id on’t see tham as being in the same class as a prime Castillo, Judah and Corrales. Mayweather put ona clinic in those fights and really shined. It’s too bad that Pacquiao never fought them because it would have been interesting to see how he would have done.