By now, most of you are aware that Floyd Mayweather Jr. won a close [split] decision over Oscar De La Hoya. It was a pretty exciting match, though a lot of Floyd's punches hit De La Hoya's gloves until the late rounds when he (Oscar) got tired. Even so, this fight may do well for boxing, given its current state.

My main question is, where do you place Floyd Mayweather Jr. on your all-time pound-4-pound list? No era-favorites, please; just hard, critical analysis.

Do you believe his declaration of retirement after the fight?

Are there still too many good fighters for him to leave the sport?

Has he accomplished "enough"?

i have seen the fight and i can't believe the running chicken mayweather was called pound for pound best of the world. I hate floyd!! he is a ugly monkey who likes to run away he might as well have been a track athlete and joined the olympics not boxing what a little sissy

Top 30 at best.

Top 30 at best.

I agree, I'd also say top 30.

My main question is, where do you place Floyd Mayweather Jr. on your all-time pound-4-pound list? No era-favorites, please; just hard, critical analysis.

Maybe in the top 50. But his accomplishments come at a bad time for boxing so it's hard to compare him to the talent that was in boxing when they'd fill yankee stadium with fight fans. Even just looking back over the last 30 or so years, I'd expect Duran, Benitez, Leonard, Hearns, Chavez and Whitaker to beat him up. And they had the benefit of fighting each other to amplify their accomplishments whereas PBF has only now fought a substantial fighter and didn't exactly beat him up.

Do you believe his declaration of retirement after the fight?

No, but he'd be wise to do so. He doesn't seem like a durable fighter (particularly his hands) and he now could go out on top with an undefeated record. If he sticks around, particularly at this weight, he's going to get caught.

Has he accomplished "enough"?

To buy ferraris and all kinds of crap? Yes. To be considered a great in historical terms? No.

PBF is definatly a first ballet hall o fame fighter. But he is definately not as great as he claims. He consistently has thrown out the names of SRR, SRL, and ALi as fighters who he is better than. He is not better than those fighters. I don't have a current actual list where i can place PBF but is not among the very elite of the all time greats. He needs another fighter to bring out the best in him. For instance for him to be loved and remembered like he wants he has to have some superfights that live up to the hype. When SRL and Duran got it on in montreal they put on a wicked superfight one in which Duran got his career defining victory and even in defeat SRL proved greatness. Similar thing with the SRL VS. Hearns 1 in which SRL rallied to stop hearns late in a great superfight and even in defeat as was the case in the Hagler defeat Hearns achieved greatness with his valour. Ali's battles with Frazier cemented both fighters places in history. SRR had wars with Lamotta, Basilio, Fullmer etc. For floyd to be remembered as the best ever and loved he has to have some fights that are memorable. Last nights match with Oscar had all the hype to it but the substance of the fight was no where near the hype.

I'm not hating on PBF as he is a great boxer with awesome technical ability but i don't see him being at the very top of p4p all time lists.

Fighters i would pick to beat PBF are Duran at 135 or welter, Pryor 140, SRL 47, SRR 47, Hearns 47, Ike williams lightweight, Emile Griffith 47, Henry Armstrong perhaps.

Personally in head to head terms i think Floyd was a great fighter at 135, 40 but at welterweight he hasn't impressed much and i think he is not the same fighter he was at 35. He mainly just pot shots now and rarely ever puts a combination together.

theonly monkey is you STIG never insult a black man like floyd yopur probably a jealous white man or hispanic, you guys will continue to lose to us. every latin fighter loses to a black athlete its genetic SIR or Sissy?

theonly monkey is you STIG never insult a black man like floyd yopur probably a jealous white man or hispanic, you guys will continue to lose to us. every latin fighter loses to a black athlete its genetic SIR or Sissy?:rofl: that made me laugh.

SEE that what you jealous guys wants for floyd to get caught , because we black boxeras have been using you guys for punching bags for over 100 years of beating your tito failed, your duran failed, benitiz failed, de la hoya failed, cotto will failed to but not to zab judah another brother will beat him too, de la hoya the sissy was beat by mosley, hopkins, floyd and trinidad, though mexicans are the toughest latino they failed under the black kings of the ring be well ALLL stop HAting on the chosen

kid if you like to express your opinion of your ''black kings'' atleast learn how to spell people's names.

:rofl: that made me laugh.

theonly monkey is you STIG never insult a black man like floyd yopur probably a jealous white man or hispanic, you guys will continue to lose to us. every latin fighter loses to a black athlete its genetic SIR or Sissy?
yeah thats why chavez beat roger mayweather. thats why rafa marquez beat mark ''too sharp ''johnson.Thats why vargas beat winky i oculd go on and on :owned:

chavez tko'd Meldrick Taylor also

:rofl:. not only that. the only fighter in boxing is a 51-0 UNDEFEATED. and is a mexican. and marciano who is WHITE is the 2nd boxer in history to retire UNDERFEATED. :owned: x 3

name me any black boxers in the history of boxing that retired underfeated.

not only that. the only fighter in boxing is a 51-0 UNDEFEATED. and is a mexican. and marciano who is WHITE is the 2nd boxer in history to retire UNDERFEATED. :owned: x 3

Don't forget about Jimmy Barry, Jack McAuliffe, Laszlo Papp, Terry Marsh, or even Sven Ottke in the "white fighters who retired undefeated" category.

Hey ****, with such loose criteria, I'm throwing Stallone's former protege, Lee Canalito in there too.

I'm excited to see what this thread as amounted to. :nonono:

I think that Floyd would fare better to drop in weight a little bit and fight some of the guys like Casamoyer, Torres, Witt etc. When I say "fare" better, I mean his legacy. I think it would do him better to lose a fight that was more action-packed than to win one where very little happens. A rematch against De La Hoya would be good for him too. At 154, I think he'll get stomped if he hangs around.

Just a thought: What would/would have happened if Floyd fought Juan Diaz? or Shane Mosley? or Manny Pacquiao at a catch weight?

I guess I hope that if he does stay in boxing, he doesn't suffer the Roy Jones Jr. syndrome where the weight-hopping catches up to him.

Also, how did you guys score the fight?

chavez tko'd Meldrick Taylor also

:rofl:. not only that. the only fighter in boxing is a 51-0 UNDEFEATED. and is a mexican. and marciano who is WHITE is the 2nd boxer in history to retire UNDERFEATED. :owned: x 3

name me any black boxers in the history of boxing that retired underfeated.

lol Salahudiyn u got :owned:

yeah thats why chavez beat roger mayweather.

Roger Mayweather sucks!!:lol1:

IMO one of the greatest lightweights to ever enter the ring.

I would have to sit down and think hard before picking the winner of a fight with anyonefrom 130-140.

that would include williams, pryor, duran, gans, arguello, nelson, armstrong.

top 30 or 40

Roger Mayweather sucks!!:lol1:

just like ali :p

jk :lol1:

IMO one of the greatest lightweights to ever enter the ring.

I would have to sit down and think hard before picking the winner of a fight with anyonefrom 130-140.

that would include williams, pryor, duran, gans, arguello, nelson, armstrong.

at 140, i think pryor beats everyone:boxing:

chavez tko'd Meldrick Taylor also

:rofl:. not only that. the only fighter in boxing is a 51-0 UNDEFEATED. and is a mexican. and marciano who is WHITE is the 2nd boxer in history to retire UNDERFEATED. :owned: x 3

name me any black boxers in the history of boxing that retired underfeated.


Yes, but funny how people claim Mayweather fought nobody, doesn't stand toe to toe, and is "boring", yet people praise Willie Pep as one of the "Greatest." Marciano is hailed as top 5 by many, yet the main competition that was considered "elite" were fighters that were past their prime and had previously all lost many times and knocked out.

Hypocrisy

I look at it like this: Hatton and Cotto both backed down from Mayweather, which equates to a win for Mayweather.

Morales, Pac, and Barrera all (in my opinion) would lose to Mayweather, yet I wonder where all three of them rank.


I am actually glad Floyd said he "retired."
I hope he stays retired, lives a good life, and does something else productive
to keep him occupied to never step in the ring again. Forget the people that want you to stay until you have declined and get battered to death. Of course you will eventually lose if you stick around, many actually want and enjoy this; it makes you more "human."

You have to take as much away from boxing before it takes you.

http://www.canadastarboxing.com/images/fighters/floyd-mayweather-0603-02.jpg

It's easier to name white fighters that havent been beaten by black fighters than it is to name black fighters that havent been beaten by white fighters.

at 140, i think pryor beats everyone:boxing:

leaving lil floyd out of the picture for a second. would you pick pryor against duran? I know I would not. It is tempting, but I would not.

he'll be on the same page of boxing history as Sven Ottke.

SEE that what you jealous guys wants for floyd to get caught , because we black boxeras have been using you guys for punching bags for over 100 years of beating your tito failed, your duran failed, benitiz failed, de la hoya failed, cotto will failed to but not to zab judah another brother will beat him too, de la hoya the sissy was beat by mosley, hopkins, floyd and trinidad, though mexicans are the toughest latino they failed under the black kings of the ring be well ALLL stop HAting on the chosen

Duran failed? Tito failed? Delahoya failed? You obviously do not realize that the era in which we are in now does not exemplify the competition that boxing possesed in the time of the aboved mentioned names.

Yes, but funny how people claim Mayweather fought nobody, doesn't stand toe to toe, and is "boring", yet people praise Willie Pep as one of the "Greatest." Marciano is hailed as top 5 by many, yet the main competition that was considered "elite" were fighters that were past their prime and had previously all lost many times and knocked out.

Hypocrisy

I look at it like this: Hatton and Cotto both backed down from Mayweather, which equates to a win for Mayweather.
Morales, Pac, and Barrera all (in my opinion) would lose to Mayweather, yet I wonder where all three of them rank.


I am actually glad Floyd said he "retired."
I hope he stays retired, lives a good life, and does something else productive
to keep him occupied to never step in the ring again. Forget the people that want you to stay until you have declined and get battered to death. Of course you will eventually lose if you stick around, many actually want and enjoy this; it makes you more "human."

You have to take as much away from boxing before it takes you.

http://www.canadastarboxing.com/images/fighters/floyd-mayweather-0603-02.jpg

That is about the dumbest thing that is stated on this thread. Mayweather is boxing in a era which is not rich with talent like it was when mosely, trinidad, forrest, DLH, Vargas, JCC, and Whitaker were in their prime. It is so difficult for you guys to admit that Mayweather has fluffed his way to where he is. Unlike the above mentioned, Mayweather has not truly dominated a division since 2003.

At 140 he fought 3 "C" level fighters in Corley, Bruseles, and Gatti. At welter he fought more medicore fighters in Baldomir and Mitchell. Zab is the only above average fighter that he fought between 2003-2007. PBF dominated at 135 and 130, he did not however make his mark at 140, 147, and definately not 154.

What has Floyd Mayweather proved?

He has proved that boxing fans are dumb. They are dumb enough to buy his boring fights, dumb enough to actually believe that he has fought only the best, dumb enough to realize that PBF has protected himself from losing.

Respected resumes are those that exemplify superior adversaries, not the champs in the divisions, but the BEST in the divisions. PBF has failed to do this.

That is about the dumbest thing that is stated on this thread. Mayweather is boxing in a era which is not rich with talent like it was when mosely, trinidad, forrest, DLH, Vargas, JCC, and Whitaker were in their prime. It is so difficult for you guys to admit that Mayweather has fluffed his way to where he is. Unlike the above mentioned, Mayweather has not truly dominated a division since 2003.

At 140 he fought 3 "C" level fighters in Corley, Bruseles, and Gatti. At welter he fought more medicore fighters in Baldomir and Mitchell. Zab is the only above average fighter that he fought between 2003-2007. PBF dominated at 135 and 130, he did not however make his mark at 140, 147, and definately not 154.

What has Floyd Mayweather proved?

He has proved that boxing fans are dumb. They are dumb enough to buy his boring fights, dumb enough to actually believe that he has fought only the best, dumb enough to realize that PBF has protected himself from losing.

Respected resumes are those that exemplify superior adversaries, not the champs in the divisions, but the BEST in the divisions. PBF has failed to do this.

JCC and Whitaker were both past their primes when Shane, Oscar , Tito were in theirs. you are talking two separate eras.

Or, by your logic, Shane, Oscar Tito are still in their primes.

your choice

That is about the dumbest thing that is stated on this thread. Mayweather is boxing in a era which is not rich with talent like it was when mosely, trinidad, forrest, DLH, Vargas, JCC, and Whitaker were in their prime. It is so difficult for you guys to admit that Mayweather has fluffed his way to where he is. Unlike the above mentioned, Mayweather has not truly dominated a division since 2003.

At 140 he fought 3 "C" level fighters in Corley, Bruseles, and Gatti. At welter he fought more medicore fighters in Baldomir and Mitchell. Zab is the only above average fighter that he fought between 2003-2007. PBF dominated at 135 and 130, he did not however make his mark at 140, 147, and definately not 154.

What has Floyd Mayweather proved?

He has proved that boxing fans are dumb. They are dumb enough to buy his boring fights, dumb enough to actually believe that he has fought only the best, dumb enough to realize that PBF has protected himself from losing.

Respected resumes are those that exemplify superior adversaries, not the champs in the divisions, but the BEST in the divisions. PBF has failed to do this.


Mayweather beat Castillo (when he was fighting at a high level) and Chico (when he was undefeated and untouched).

Moved up to 140, where nobody wanted to fight him, like HATTON, and maybe even Tszyu (although I am not exactly sure on that before he fought Hatton).

Arum made sure not to put Cotto in there with Mayweather. Is that Mayweather's fault? I think not.

So, both Hatton and Cotto have a loss to Mayweather. Mayweather wanted and tried to make the fights happen, they did not want it.


So even if you do not count him as a "5 weight division Champ", if he stayed down, do you think anybody could beat him?
Morales, who got schooled by Zahir; Barrera (who got knocked out by Pac); Pac (who almost lost to JMM); ?

If he beat those three, how would you rate him?


Who really is there that is an elite fighter for him to face that would give him legacy points?


WHERE DO YOU RANK MARCIANO?
If Mayweather is overrated, Marciano is as well.
If Marciano fought at least "good" fighters that out-weighed him by 15-30+ pounds, it might be differnt, but he did not.



Is Mayweather on Ray Robinson's level, NO. Mayweather is still good, and was incredible down at 130's.

I really dont think we can say where he's going down in history yet, because its almost a given he's not retiring. If he retired today, he'd go down as a great fighter, but I can guarantee you he wouldnt go down as the fighter of the generation over lewis, rjj, odlh, or hopkins. This is because he's never had any real memorable performances, doesnt have a crowd-pleasing style, and hasnt faced quite the opposition hopkins or odlh has.

Potentials, assuming he doesn't retire:

Mayweather's next fight should be a rematch with De La Hoya, simply because the public would be interested. Oscar would probably keep the jab going all through the fight, and Mayweather would be a little more comfortable at his new weight. It would be more exciting than the first (which may even entice a III).

After that, it's a matter of whether or not he stays junior middle/welter. A fight with Shane Mosley would draw a big audience, though I don't think that PBF would fare well in this one, thus he would avoid it. Or, DLH 2 could possibly be followed by a meeting with Miguel Cotto (finally). That would be huge if both fighters were unbeaten champs.

Looking ahead, he may even fight Cory Spinks depending on how Spinks does against Taylor.

If he managed 3 more big name wins, he would probably bump up his own all-time greatness. Especially given that these are exciting opponents who would force Mayweather to do a little more in the ring.

Even if he fought 5-6 more times before truly retiring, and lost a fight or two in there, it would probably help him more than anything; especially since every fight from now on will be against huge names.

He ranks very high on skill, pound for pound fighting ablity or head to head matchups. But these Historical P4P lists are ranked within the level of competition and accomplishments. Mayweather's level of competition is not impressive enough to be rated high on an all time list. We're not talking about some list here, this is in the same breath as the likes of SRR, SRL, Ali, Whitaker etc etc. To get himself higher on the list, he would need to fight most of the big names, great fighters, show how he can handle diversity and most importantly..

He needs to have a great trilogy with another great fighter to cement his legacy. That is by far the best way to cement your legacy.

leaving lil floyd out of the picture for a second. would you pick pryor against duran? I know I would not. It is tempting, but I would not.

well yeah thats a good point, but pryor does have the edge in power and size... that wouldve been one hell of a fight:boxing:

Duran failed? Tito failed? Delahoya failed? You obviously do not realize that the era in which we are in now does not exemplify the competition that boxing possesed in the time of the aboved mentioned names.he's an idiot. he has no knowledge of boxing.

theonly monkey is you STIG never insult a black man like floyd yopur probably a jealous white man or hispanic, you guys will continue to lose to us. every latin fighter loses to a black athlete its genetic SIR or Sissy?

Looks like we got a new one.

SEE that what you jealous guys wants for floyd to get caught , because we black boxeras have been using you guys for punching bags for over 100 years of beating your tito failed, your duran failed, benitiz failed, de la hoya failed, cotto will failed to but not to zab judah another brother will beat him too, de la hoya the sissy was beat by mosley, hopkins, floyd and trinidad, though mexicans are the toughest latino they failed under the black kings of the ring be well ALLL stop HAting on the chosen

YOU ARE A DUMBASS RACIST YOURSELF, BOXING IS A SPORT NOT A PLACE WHERE YOU SHOULD BRING THAT HATE. ALL THOSE LATINO FIGHTERS HAVE BEATIN BLACK FIGHTERS, AND VISE VERSA, WHO CARES ALMOST ALL ARE LEGENDS AND EXCITING TO WATCH, LEAVE THAT BULL**** SOMEWHERE ELSE. MABE YOU SHOULD GO TO A RACIST FORUM. I THINK YOU WOULD BE MORE AT HOME THERE

YOU ARE A DUMBASS RACIST YOURSELF, BOXING IS A SPORT NOT A PLACE WHERE YOU SHOULD BRING THAT HATE. ALL THOSE LATINO FIGHTERS HAVE BEATIN BLACK FIGHTERS, AND VISE VERSA, WHO CARES ALMOST ALL ARE LEGENDS AND EXCITING TO WATCH, LEAVE THAT BULL**** SOMEWHERE ELSE. MABE YOU SHOULD GO TO A RACIST FORUM. I THINK YOU WOULD BE MORE AT HOME THERE
floyd is a good circus act type boxer. he is good, not great. he will be forgotten in boxing history. it would be an insult to the boxing greats to have his name mentioned with them. so get real folks and stop all the bull****.

floyd is a good circus act type boxer. he is good, not great. he will be forgotten in boxing history. it would be an insult to the boxing greats to have his name mentioned with them. so get real folks and stop all the bull****.

:nonono: ...

floyd is a good circus act type boxer. he is good, not great. he will be forgotten in boxing history. it would be an insult to the boxing greats to have his name mentioned with them. so get real folks and stop all the bull****.

at some point you will have to face the facts (the win, the titles in the weight classes), get real and shut up

:nonono: ...:lol1:.....

another floyd hate thread. i find myself putting that in the beginning of my posts a lot because of threads like these. to have an opinion of a fighter for his accomplishments is one thing when you've seen his whole professional career, but to make posts about someone who i'm sure more than half of you haven't seen his career in full or for that matter sugar robinson's career, ali's career in full, leonard's career in full is just stupid. you people make claims like who has floyd ever fought to be called an elite fighter? and you then claim he needs to fight cotto, mosley, hatton, and others before he can be even considered an all time great. but, then you stupid ****s fail to make claims like, who has cotto ever fought that was eilte? who has hatton ever fought that was elite? you people have claimed in the past that hatton is overrated, he only beat a past prime kosta tszyu. other than that, he hasn't beaten any other elite fighter. the same with cotto. he has tremendous skills like his body punching, but that's just skills. who has he ever fought that was elite. then you guys fail to put in your already biased and one dimensional posts and threads that mayweather has called out all of these guys, and they have turned him down, some more than once(ala shane mosley). you guys claim that floyd shoudl fight paul williams, margarito, winky wright, and he should have fought hamed, barrera, kosta tszyu, and others at lightweight, and super lightweight, but then you guys claim that fyou didn't see anybody beating floyd at these weights, and that he was his best at these weights. who has paul williams ever fought? who has margarito ever fought? winky wright didn't even take floyd seriously when he was called out by floyd. floyd has called out hamed, barrera, tszyu, frietes, cassamayor, and others publicly(like after his fights in the post fight inteview), but the fights never happened. who's to blame, floyd is? is it money? or is it the fact that these guys didn't really want floyd like they claimed? you guys like to comapre floyd to other fighters from past eras. how can you rank an all time great without seeing their careers in full. i'm sure many boxing experts on television have seen most of these past great's fights in full, so they have more of an argument, but ranking these guys like ali, mayweather jr, robinson, leonard in the all time great category is opinion centered, because who really knows who's greater than who. could leonard have beaten guys like zab judah at welterweight, who knows, it's opinion, while many of you beileve he would have killed judah, you really don't know for sure. could floyd have beaten thomas hearns? many fell hearns would have killed floyd, but after reading countless amounts of threads and posts on floyd mayweather jr, i'm sure many of you base that assumption and prediction on hate for floyd jr, and not on his actual skill, which takes away any substance your posts and threads have to begin with. could hearns beat oscar de la hoya? could jake lamotta beat floyd mayweather? could leonard beat floyd mayweather or vica versa? who really knows? nobody does, but when you're a fighter, to be considered great, a part of it has to do with your confidence and belief in yourself. floyd feels he is the best fighter ever, whether it's true or not, is a matter of opinion, not actual facts. not everyone believes srr is the greatest fighter ever. not everyone believes ali is the greatest fighter ever, and he's called himself the greatest publicly many times, although he has claimed srr as the greatest fighter ever. floyd feels he is the best fighter of all time, but how is an all time great really measured. i mean, come on, fighters like mayweather jr, wille pep and pernell whitaker have all been called defensive savants. their skill level in defense is second to none, yet they lack the power to be called knckout gods, although they have knckouts on their records. they all had speed. they were all slick. they all had good combinations, yet their weren't heavyweight fighters. now fighters like srl, mike tyson, and srr, all had great speed, power, and good combinations, yet although they had decent defensive(especially tyson in his younger days), they were not better than pep, mayweather jr, and whitaker to many people. but, to many people, they are greater than pep, mayweather jr, and whitaker. why? they fought better oppisition in their time, but let's be honest here. willie pep has fought way more than leonard, tyson, mayweather jr, whitaker,and many others just like roboinson. boxing as a whole has changed dramatically over the years. the level of competition has in a way decreased in the modern eras. floyd jr didn't have the hearns, durans and haglers leonard had. yet, with the competition he has had, he has beaten everyone of them. some fighters were tough for floyd like castillo, sosa, judah, and even emanuel agustus to some extent. floyd fough at lighter weights for most of his career compared to leonard and robinson and others. but, he has moved up 5 different weight class and hasn't been beaten. that's saying something. that's should be considered an all tiem great accomplishment. the man is still undefeated. he has been p4p champion in an era that has had great fighters but not like in the 80s, 70s, and 60s, to many people, but is that floyd's fault. actually, if you look at the fighters today and in the 90s, they look like better athletes than any other other era. alothough, the rounds aren't 15 rounds anymore, i'm sure many of today's fighter can prepare themselves for 15 round fights, even though they have only fought at most 12 rounds. the bottom line is this people, floyd mayweather, whether you want to admit it or not, is an all time great to many people, an dboxing experts. he has proven himself to be called so, whether you agree with his opponents or not. he has beaten eilte fighters like corrales(rip), de la hoya, hernandez, castillo, judah, baldomir, gatti, and chavez. his skill level is the best in the business, bar none, yet, many of you people lack the true defintion of what a boxer really is. you people seem to lack the knowledge of boxing. even larry merchant, who couldn't hate floyd mayweather anymore than he does today, even admits that floyd boxes as naturally as a fish swims. what you people call running, true boxing fans like myself, sin, dlt, and others call great foot movement and ring generalship. what you people call potshots, we call choosing your shots effectively.

you people are so bloodthirsty that you forget what great boxing really is. let me remind you ****s that floyd mayweather is the opitimy of a great boxer. he does everything well. he makes you fight at his pace, and he controls the fight, whether you look aggressive against him or not, it's called great boxing, great rign savvyness, smarts. he beat oscar de la hoya this way. he said, smarts wins fights, and he couldn't be anymore right. his smarts won him the fight against oscar. floyd mayweather, unlike the thread starter claimed, won the fight because he was the smarter fighter, so deal with it. oscar fought at his pace, and got caught with the cleaner punches. i'll leave it at that for now.

Floyd does make opponents fight at his pace, and that proves he has loads of great ring generalship. He has lost some of this since jumping up in weight, however, and those of us who have watched him for most of his career have noticed this.

Floyd has excellent hand speed, as well as decent accuracy. He also possesses evasiveness and swift ring movement. These skills allowed Mayweather to counter-punch effectively and score in bursts against his slower opponents. Since becoming one of the top fighters in the world, he has allowed these skills to fade in favor of forcing a stale, one-punch-at-a-time fight. Those of us who have watched him have noticed this.

Against De La Hoya, there would not have been a fight if Oscar hadn't pressed Mayweather from time to time.

Mayweather was absolutely dominant at the lower weight classes, and he probably would have developed a greater legacy if he chose to defend his belt a hundred times as opposed to skipping around. Now he has no choice but to fight against big name opponents, even if they are beyond their prime or in retirement. This creates a false sense of greatness, meaning he has to continue to fight after his desired declaration of retirement in order to build up "proof" that he is great. Had he stayed at a lower weight class and continued to dominate, I don't think that anyone would question his greatness.

It's also going to be more difficult for him to fall back down in weight, as was the case with Roy Jones Jr. after coming back down from heavyweight: he was never the same again.

I guess what I'm saying is, he may have actually hurt his legacy by jumping up in weight to fight De La Hoya, when there was plenty of good competition for him to potentially dominate for years to come, even if the names weren't technically as big. Now he will participate in a bunch of lackluster fights against post or near-retirement opponents, simply because they are big names.

P.S. Simply "calling out" a fighter's name during a press-conference does not mean that Mayweather was actually calling them out. He does like to talk after all.

P.P.S. I personally think Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a great pound-for-pound fighter; perhaps top 25 all-time; so don't assume I'm hating. I happen to find some of his earlier fights to be masterpieces, just not in the same way that other people do. (ie: not doing anything doesn't automatically indicate a defensive "master)

BRASSANGEL:

GOOD POST

I would like to add to the Oscar vs. Floyd fight: When Floyd attacked (and this was before Oscar got tired), he stopped Oscar in his track, but then went back to punching one at a time; it would not be until Oscar got tired that he started to mix it up again. This is not how Mayweather used to fight: he used to break you down by constant counter punching (in bunches), then by the late rounds, try to finish you off.


Maybe Floyd has become to worried about being tagged and maybe he is becoming over-protective of his "legacy" or "O."


This is a thread I posted (with video evidence) of how Floyd used to fight. It would be a shame to continue to fight the way he currently fights because he has a better chance of losing. He is to reluctant to go to the cards and to do just enough to get by.

Although I do wonder if he fought someone with less of a punch, like Hatton, if he woud not turn it back up like he did to Gatti.

Floyd's not getting any younger and we all know what can happen to the majority of athletes once you hit 30.

http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119396

Good videos.

I think fighting guys who are naturally 15+ pounds heavier than he [Floyd] is plays a factor as well. It's probably slightly unnerving to mix it up with guys who are going to be, on average, more powerful than you are in nearly every fight. Also, his opponents' reach will typically be greater, and Floyd himself has to punch upwards.

On a side note: This is actually one aspect of the Fight Night 3 game that was remotely accurate.