Mayweather names his best five ever list with his name at No.1

By Boxing News - 08/11/2015 - Comments

Floyd MayweatherBy Dan Ambrose: Floyd Mayweather Jr. placed himself at the top of the list of the best five fighters of all time. Mayweather’s list is kind of controversial though because he’s not included boxing greats like Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, Sugar Ray Leonard, Jack Johnson or Jake Lamotta on the list.

Mayweather’s list comes down to the following five:

1. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
2. Roberto Duran
3. Pernell Whitaker
4. Julio Cesar Chavez
5. Muhammad Ali

It’s subjective stuff by Mayweather because a lot of boxing fans wouldn’t have included flawed fighters like Duran, Whitaker and Chavez on their lists. Those were decent fighters, but hardly greats. Duran was exposed by Leonard and Tommy Hearns. Whitaker was more of a product of his time. He wouldn’t have likely done well against the fighters of today that have punching power and are aggressive. Chavez was another fighter who was a product of his time.

“Ali – only one weight class and really lost to Ken Norton three times. What he did is he stood for a cause in an era when African Americans didn’t stand up for their people,” Mayweather said via ESPN Deportes. “(Roberto Duran). Came up from lightweight to world champion at 160lbs. Love that guy. A legend. (Pernell Whitaker). Really, he beat Julio Cesar Chavez (the fight was a controversial draw). And he did beat my uncle Roger Twice.”

A prime Chavez would likely be little more than a contender in this day and age. Even Ali was a product of his time. You couldn’t throw Ali in the ring with someone like Wladimir Klitschko because he would have been too short and too light for Wladimir.

The 210 pound Ali would have to fight in the cruiserweight division nowadays because he would be too light and too short to fight the taller heavyweights in the division now. The heavyweight division nowadays is more like a super heavyweight division for bigger heavyweights. The smaller heavyweights accomplish very little, and if they’re smart they move down to cruiserweight rather than waste their career.

Even having Mayweather at the top of his list is controversial because he didn’t always take on the best fighters during his career. He waited until Pacquiao was 36 before he fought him. Mayweather never fought a prime Shane Mosley, and never fought Kostya Tszyu, Gennady Golovkin, Paul Williams, a prime Oscar De La Hoya, or Antonio Margarito. Mayweather hasn’t fought Keith Thurman, Amir Khan, Shawn Porter, Kell Brook or Danny Garcia. There are too many missing names from Mayweather’s resume for him to be ranked in the top 5 in my book.

“(Julio Cesar Chavez). Was 79-0 in different weight classes before he lost,” Mayweather said. “He’s beat more world champions than any other fighter in a shorter time and less fights than any other fighter. Landed punches at the highest percentage and took less punishment. He’s been world champion 18 years in five different weight divisions.”

A better list than Mayweather’s would be the following five fighters:

1. Sugar Ray Robinson
2. Sugar Ray Leonard
3. Jack Johnson
4. Jack Dempsey
5. Henry Armstrong



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