By Babatis Banda: There is little doubt in my mind that Floyd Mayweather jnr is headed for an all- time great status. This status does not have to be conferred to him by any single person, but surely history will. I was watching thriller in Manila and realized just how hated or disliked Mohamed Ali was.

You could hear the boos against Ali and the cheering for ‘Smoking’ Joe whenever he landed. This is not any different from what happens when Floyd is fighting. Floyd is hated, for the very same reason Ali was…confident, brash and full of skill.

Times have changed and situations have turned things around, probably not in the best interest of the sport. The big money in this game has killed all the fire that made this sport thrive. Boxers, not so long ago, fought so many times in a year, partly because it meant more money. The belts made sense, because it set the boxer up for the big fights as wining a belt literally put you in-line with the next best challenger. Not any more, some boxers make so much money that it would be so foolish for them to punish their bodies just for the fun of it. Floyd Mayweather for example makes too much money per single fight, probably enough to have paid out the whole of Ali’s career.

Many top boxers now do not need any belt to have a big fight, their names are enough in themselves to line them up. Titles no longer have the same effect than they did a number of years ago, and all this is because of the changing landscape in all sport.

With this situation, Mayweather stands out from the pack as the biggest germ of the sport. Until the Cotto bout, from which he had a broken nose, a few bruises here and there, we rarely ever see Mayweather labour to get a win. Until his first loss, Mayweather is the man to beat and if he decides to walk away with two or three more fights under his belt, it will be inevitable that this status will be conferred to him.

Pacquiao is one close boxer after Mayweather. Despite some close shaves and significant share of losses, he has had spectacular fights that tend to neutralize his bad showing now. Pacquiao is a good boxer, but is only in the same books as Chavez Snr. Mayweather is a boxer in a class of his own, he takes everything about his career and personality to a different level. There is nobody from the current crop of fighters that can cause any significant threat, unless the sheer hope that Pacquiao provides for many that loathe Mayweather.