By Steve Davis: Let’s make something clear, Floyd Mayweather is a very good fighter, and is Certainly a great business man. He has blinding speed of hand and foot and is properly the best defensive fighter ever, but is he a great, does he stand with the likes of Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Sugar Ray Leonard, Sugar Ray Robinson, Thomas Hearns, Evander Holyfield to name a few and if he doesn’t why is he not.
In terms of titles won, defences made and the fact that he is still undefeated, you would think he would be termed as a great, but this I feel is why is isn’t a great. he has never had to dig deep, to go into the trenches and deal with a war. He has never faced defeat. Never faced this demon, looked him straight in the eyes and then somehow manage to be victorious.
Yes, he has faced good fighters and won, and yes, he faced the great Oscar de la Hoya, but by the time they met, De la Hoya was in the twilight of his career. In fact I personally believe that de la Hoya did enough to win and Mayweather was in fact lucky to get that decision. The other thing that for me makes a fighter a great, is not only the level of opposition he has faced but also has he had a rivalry to deal with, a fighter that has tested him over a series of fights. Great fights make great fighters, Mayweather has never had a truly great fight. He wins and that’s it, no see-saw battles, no fights that make fans scream for more.
Mayweather is first and foremost a business man; he picks his opponents at the right time in terms of financial gain and in terms of risk. Prime examples are Mayweather fighting Osar De la Hoya at the end of his career, fighting Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, when the kid still had a lot to learn. The Canelo fight was no risk for Mayweather. Austin Trout had showed the way on how to beat him. In that fight, Canelo was out-boxed and should have been out-pointed but for some terrible judging, and now Mayweather has picked Marcos Maidana for May 3rd. Maidana’s another hand-picked opponent, and the result a forgone conclusion, with Mayweather winning via 12 round decision.
As I said in a previous article, Mayweather wanted no part of fighting Amir Khan, as Khan is unpredictable. A risk to him with his speed and boxing skills. Mayweather, however, could have gained greatness several years ago by fighting a live opponent and it could have been a rivalry that could have gone down in boxing history, but he has let the Manny Pacquiao fight slip through his fingers. The main reason for this my friends is the fact that this fight or rivalry would have been too risky to the money machine. Yes, the amount of money earned would have been huge for all, but there was a genuine risk that Mayweather may lose, and that can never happen, not after protecting the 0 for so long. Hence, Mayweather and Pacquiao has never happened and it properly never will. Mayweather will handpick his opponents very carefully in seeing out his career and will leave the sport of boxing with the 0 in tact and a whole load of money but does he leave as a great, well only time will tell but frankly not in my book.
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