By Jon Ingram: There is nothing but recycled material going around all across the boards talking about Floyd Mayweather Jr. This is mainly because his contract is about to end with Showtime in his next two fights. Nobody but Mayweather knows rather he’ll retire or not.
I’d go as far as saying still to this date, what everybody is still waiting for, no one knows if the Manny Pacquiao fight will happen except Mayweather, but that’s not what this is about. I want you to think for a second, what or who truly determines who The Best Ever Is.
Is it skill, your wins percentage, your loss percentage your opponents, fan excitement, or era/timing? I’d say a combination of all the above, with a give or take of a few extras I may be missing. In this case, for Mayweather, skill, loss percentage and era/timing could possibly make him the great of all time in the future.
The record books cannot be solely dependable on when determining who the best is. For example: Gennady Golovkin is one of my top three favorite boxers to watch today, and he’s breaking middleweight records right now, yet he hasn’t had an opponent credible enough to even mention his name with the Hall Of Famers who did it before him quite yet. But because he’s breaking records do that make him better than Marwin Hagler, Sugar Ray Robinson, and a prime Roy Jones Jr?
The most consideration given to the greatest of all time is Sugar Ray Robinson. I feel like his time may be running out though. The fans in my opinion decides who the best is. With the limited resources that’s available to watch, old black and white footage on YouTube, what will happen 20 years from now, when the younger generation is the powerhouse of voice and opinion in the boxing world. Will they know who Sugar Ray Robinson is? Will they know who Muhammad Ali was? Will they care? I already see the younger generation of kids for example: with basketball claiming that LeBron James is the best ever, yet he hasn’t accomplished up to the level of a Kobe Bryant who’s still playing let alone the most considered great of all time Michael Jordan.
Me personally, I respect Mayweather for the skill that he possess in the ring but I feel that there’s maybe two guys that’s out there that could beat him right now. One that everyone been wanting to see for years, that may possibly still happen and one who’s just too big that I don’t see him fighting, but I wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t. Determining if Mayweather is truly the best ever, I’d have to sum it up quick by comparing not his win or loss percentage but his opponents to some of the other greats. Looking at Floyd’s recent resume, he has started calling himself the great of all time after defeating the likes of
Juan Manuel Marquez – He completely dominated Marquez which he gets the highest respect from me for that. You may never see a very good boxer like Marquez get a boxing lesson like the one Floyd gave him.
Victor Ortiz – very controversial with the knockout which happened to be the last time he’s gotten one (just a mental note) but in fact, I can’t complain about that, because Ortiz hit Mayweather with an obvious head-butt.
Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero – Just a complete mismatch
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez – For I was riding the hype a little bit with Canelo, with his size, I thought he’d possibly beat Mayweather, he was just not good enough, or experienced enough. Take away the trout win, and his 40 something other fights were not credible enough to be able to even get a pay-per-view main event let alone Mayweather.
Marcos Madiana – Only got the fight with Mayweather because he and his camp followed the blueprint I would’ve had Pacquaio take if I was his promoter by beating his little brother Adrien Broner. Perfect hype up for a beat down.
Now there’s a lot of articles out there that attempt to downplay Mayweather opponents. If that’s what it seems like, my apologies, because that’s not my intention. At that time, the opponents may have been the best option or 2nd best option to make so I take nothing away from Mayweather for fighting them, with the exception the “The Ghost.” My intention for mentioning these fighters are because with the exception of Marquez, none of them other guys are Hall of Famers (Canelo being the exception, for his career is still being written), nor do they compare with the greats of the past welterweight division, which I won’t name, for we all know who they are, who fought each other to determine who the best was.
So, I end with, 20 years from now, when Mayweather is long gone and retired from the sport, will he be the one that was lucky, skilled, and smart enough the way he promoted himself, that time will shine on him, and the younger generation will end up remembering who was most relevant? Will that happen with Mayweather and other great athletes or will history be preserved?
Comments are closed.