By Frank Warren
There is no question that over the last two decades Floyd Mayweather Jnr has carved out the unquestionable status as the best fighter of his generation.
He has taking revenue generation in the sport to dizzying new heights and it’s hard to see anyone getting close to making the money he has in the sport again.
The unashamedly confident Floyd recently listed his opinion on the greatest ever five fighters. Unsurprisingly, given he refers to himself often publicly as ‘TBE’ or ‘The Best Ever’, Floyd placed himself at number one on this list.
It’s always difficult to rank fighters across different generations, but I have to say I was a little surprised he put Muhammed Ali down as low as No.5 and left out the man the fighters themselves say really was the greatest of them all, Sugar Ray Robinson. Rocky Marciano, whose 49-0 record, Mayweather will attempt to equal next month, doesn’t get a mention either.
Floyd’s top five are himself, Roberto Duran, Pernell Whitaker, Julio Cesar Chavez and Ali.
Other candidates that perhaps should have got a mention include Sugar Ray Leonard, Henry Armstrong, Marvin Hagler, Willie Pep and Joe Louis.
Mayweather says of himself that he’s beaten more champions than any other fighter and done it in a shorter period of time than any other fighter, creating record-breaking numbers for pay-per-view and taken less punishment than most. I accept that he’s overwhelmingly the best of his era, but the greatest of all time I have to say I’m unsure about.
Mayweather recently named Andre Berto as his opponent for his September fight. I don’t expect Berto to pose a particularly big threat to preventing Floyd from becoming 49-0, however Mayweather fights are always an event, and with this supposedly being his last fight of an illustrious career, the naysayers about his choice of opponent will no doubt be tuning to watch.
It’s interesting to ask the question how Mayweather will be remembered from a legacy standpoint. He beat Manny Pacquiao, in the highest grossing fight of all time, but the fight had unfortunately passed its sell by date by the time they finally got it on.
It’s a shame he hasn’t decided to take on Amir Khan this time, that’s a fight the fans would much rather have seen than him and Berto, and Amir is rarely in a boring fight.
Another dream Mayweather fight would be him against Middleweight king Gennady Golovkin. GGG is obviously boasts massive size advantages, to multi-weight titlist Mayweather and it is hugely unlikely to happen, but back in another era it is the sort of pairing that would have been made, as it was with Leonard and Duran.