By John F. McKenna (McJack): At one time Floyd Mayweather (41-0, 25 KO’s) seemed to be universally considered by boxing fans, writers, and historians as a great fighter. But is he really a fighter who will go down in boxing history as one of the greatest fighters of all time? Of course “Money” is proclaimed by himself to be the greatest fighter of all time. Forget about Sugar Ray Robinson, Harry Greb, Benny Leonard, Archie Moore , Joe Louis, Roberto Duran, Muhammad Ali and numerous other great fighters who fought everybody out there over long periods of time.

These great fighters fought the best competition available because they wanted to be recognized by boxing fans and their peers as the best fighters of their generation.

They wanted to prove to the world how good they were. No phony excuses or condemnations of their opponents in an effort to avoid fighting them. No rules that they imposed on another fighter so that a match would not be made which all boxing fans wanted to see. Most importantly they did not make baseless charges without proof or evidence to support their claim that a potential opponent was doing something illegal to make him a better fighter. That is not the measure of a great fighter and in some cases comes back to haunt the person making the claim.

When the great Joe Louis took the heavyweight title in 1937 from the “Cinderella Man” Jimmy Braddock with an eight round KO he said that he would be a fighting champion. He made good on his word. In 1941 he defended his title seven times and wound up defending his crown a record twenty five times. Sugar Ray Robinson lost his forty third fight to Jake Lamotta in 1943 and did not lose again for another eight years, fighting as often as sixteen times a year. The “Old Mongoose” Archie Moore had several times as many KO’s as Mayweather has had fights. Can any boxing fan conceive of Roberto Duran making all sorts of silly excuses so that he would not have to fight another fighter who was perceived to be on his level?

The former greats were loved by boxing fans. They gave their all and dodged no one.
This is part of what makes a fighter great. They loved the challenge of going up against the very best opposition. The great Lightweight Champion of the mid 1940’s Beau Jack was a headliner at Madison Square Garden a record twenty one times. The fans loved him and he loved the fans. He once said that the reason boxing fans loved him was that he fought frequently against the best opposition and always gave his very best and that he never dodged anyone. The recurring theme of all great fighters is that they did not dodge anyone.

There was a time when Floyd Mayweather’s legacy as a great fighter seemed to be secure. That is now in question. He certainly has the physical prowess to be a great fighter as he demonstrated earlier in his career. At this point Floyd seems to be preoccupied with what Manny Pacquiao is doing and he seems to be paranoid when he speaks of Pacquiao.

What must be especially galling to Floyd Mayweather is that Manny Pacquiao is not only popular in his native country, the Philippines, he is also very popular in the USA and that popularity seems to have spread world wide.

Like it or not, Floyd Mayweather’s popularity is declining, although his diehard fans will undoubtedly stay with him. The only thing he can do to turn things around is to fight his nemesis Manny Pacquiao and that is not likely to happen anytime soon.