Mayweather is the greatest boxer of the modern era

By boxing1 - 02/08/2013 - Comments

floyd82Floyd Mayweather has been a professional prizefighter for 17 years and has yet to suffer a defeat. He is the last remaining member of the 1996 Olympic team and is a five weight world champion. Mayweather is the closest thing to a perfect fighter, he has outstanding hand speed, mental strength and defensive skills.

Even though he is slightly slower and has been more hittable in recent years, his solid boxing foundation has allowed him to stay on top of the sport which is something Roy Jones could not do as he grew older and his speed started to decline.

People like to criticize Mayweather’s level of opposition but he has faced and defeated most of the best fighters of his era. In his first title fight, Mayweather defeated an excellent fighter called Genaro Hernandez who had only previously lost to Oscar de la Hoya.

Mayweather then defended his title 8 times and also stopped an undefeated Deigo Corrales who was favoured to win the fight. In Mayweather’s first fight as a lightweight he defeated Jose Luis Castillo by a close but deserved unanimous decision whilst suffering from an injured shoulder. He then defeated Castillo again by a wider decision in the rematch and defended the lightweight title twice more.

When he moved up to the 140lb division Mayweather proved that he could take a good shot when he was caught flush by Demarcus Corley on route to a wide decision win. Mayweather then became a 3 division world champion by battering Arturo Gatti for a 6th round stoppage. In his first 147lb title fight Mayweather was matched against Zab Judah.

Although Judah had lost a portion of his welterweight championship in his previous fight he came into the fight in shape and was highly motivated to beat Floyd. Judah fought well and arguably won the first 4 rounds but was eventually overcome by Mayweather’s superior tactics and skill level.

Mayweather then defeated Carlos Baldomir the man who had defeated Judah before setting up a fight with Oscar De La Hoya. The De La Hoya fight was a huge event but Mayweather, who stepped up to 154lbs for the fight easily out pointed Oscar despite the official result being a split decision. Mayweather then knocked out an undefeated Ricky Hatton while stepping backwards with an excellent counter left hook before retiring for two years.

When Mayweather returned he defeated Juan Manuel Marquez at 147lbs, the man who would knock Manny Pacquiao out with one punch at the same weight 3 years later. Mayweather then took on Shane Mosley and walked through some big shots on route to a wide decision win. He then defeated Victor Ortiz, a young and hungry champion who had come of the floor twice to defeat Andre Berto.

In his last fight Mayweather overcame some rough moments to outclass and out point 154lb champion Miguel Cotto to become a 2 time light middleweight champion. With the exception of Judah, all of Mayweather’s important fights have come against opponents who were coming off big victories. Ortiz had defeated Berto, Mosley had knocked out Antonio Margarito, Baldomir had out pointed Judah and De La Hoya had stopped Mayorga.

People criticize Mayweather for not fighting Manny Pacquiao but they do not realize that the only way the fight was going to happen was if Pacquiao left Top Rank, it had nothing to do with random drug testing. 

Mayweather does not work with Top Rank after previous disputes earlier in his career with Bob Arum. If Pacquiao had became a free agent he would have earned a greater sum of money as he would not have had to pay a percentage of his purse to Top Rank. Unfortunately that fight can no longer happen as Pacquiao has just been knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez, the man Mayweather defeated after a two year layoff.



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