Mayweather will probably fight Berto next to unify the WBC and IBF titles.. I have a gut feeling.. He just beat a legit welterweight in his prime (Ortiz) and I think he'll fight Berto next, probably in Feb or March 2012.
I think Floyd is making a late push in order to improve his resume... Berto is young, fast and strong, so he won't get criticized for fighting Berto. Plus Berto brings a title to the table. I'd rather see him fight Berto than a rematch with Ortiz. Moreover, it looks like Manny is going to fight Bradley after Marquez, so Floyd has time to spare.
After that I hope Pac-May will be made.. Mayweather wins and in doing so should become undisputed champ (WBC, WBO and IBF). Which further adds to his resume (beating an ATG and becoming undisputed champ).
He should then fight Amir Khan, who could be holding the other 147 title by then. Mayweather wins.
Then he should fight Martinez at 154.
I'm predicting Mayweather wins all of those fights.. He would then be 46-0 and would have several options:
1) Rematch Pacquiao, if Pacman is still active.
2) Give Khan a rematch in the UK (supposing their first fight is in the USA)
3) Fight Canelo.
4) Fight Tim Bradley.
5) Fight the Cotto-Margarito winner at 154, if he is still relevant (i.e. not been whooped by Martinez, or not retired).
5) Retire, permanently.
That would be a hell of an end to his career and would rank him top-10 ATG IMO. However, it's highly unlikely all of those fights happening, or in that order.
I do think Mayweather-Berto will happen in 2012 though.
Floyd at the moment is already probably top 30 ATG.
If you add in wins over:
Manny Pacquiao
ATG, past his prime but still very formidable.. Let's not forget Mayweather is the older of the two, so Mayweather earns a lot of "ATG ranking points" for beating Pacman.
Sergio Martinez at 154lbs
Not a future hall-of-famer but currently a top-3 P4P fighter in his prime. Sergio is still in his prime, he's peaked late but is definitely prime if you look at his body of work over the last 2 years compared to the rest of his career.
Plus Sergio is the bigger man by some margin so it would be a very impressive win for Floyd, another great name on his resume.
Amir Khan at 147
Young boxer in his prime. Could very well win titles in 3 or 4 divisions (140, 147, 154, 160???) due to his size and young age and should become a future hall-of-famer if he lives up to his potential.
Another great win for Floyd.
Andre Berto
Like I said, I think this fight will happen early next year.. Berto is not great, but Floyd will add another prime, non-weight drained, legit, 2-time welterweight title-holder to his resume. This win would be further enhanced if Berto went on to avenge his defeat to Ortiz and win more titles, perhaps even at 154.
Cotto-Margarito winner
I'm not sure who will win but Cotto is another sure-fire future Hall-of-famer and even you have to say he's past his prime. Cotto is one of the best 154 pound fighters around. Floyd vs. Cotto is a case of better late than never. Another good name on his resume.
Those wins would propel Floyd in to the top-10.
Sugar Ray Leonard. I'd love to see Leonard vs. Mayweather at Welterweight. Just to see how good Mayweather's defense, counter-punching, intelligence and all-round ability really are..
I think Mayweather outboxes Duran though. But Duran vs. Pac would be a WAR and I don't know who to favour...
I wouldn't mind bringing back Prime-Calzaghe, from around the time he trounced Kessler.. The 168lbs division right now is so stacked... Seeing Calzaghe vs. Froch, Ward and Bute would be great fights. I think Calzaghe beats them all though.
Even though he's not an ATG, and not even a HoF'e (yet?), I would love to see Prime Naseem Hamed back... Hamed vs. Gamboa, Donaire, prime Chris John, Juanma, Nishioka, prime Montiel, Arce.. Those would be some awesome fights... In his prime Hamed had immense KO power.
Khan will only get stronger by moving up in weight. His body will obviously get stronger and his punches too, but I think his punch resistance will also increase. The one question mark for me would be his handspeed, would it increase, decrease or stay the same.
If it doesn't decrease then I can't see anybody not named Mayweather or Pacquaio beating him at 147lbs. He'll be too fast, too big (5ft 10) and skillful for them, plus he has a great jab and Freddie Roach..
In no order, my top 15:
Mayweather, Pacquiao, Donaire, Martinez, Marquez, Wladimir Klitschko, Hopkins, Froch, Khan, Gamboa, Ward, Wonjongkam, Agbeko, Nishioka, Segura.
His next fight will be on the Froch-Ward card in December so I doubt it'll be a title shot. He'll probably fight for a title in the Spring and then fight Khan in the Summer... So they should keep Brook active against a proven welterweight.
Maybe test his chin against a banger like Randall Bailey.
Or put him up against a higher-quality opponent like Jan Zaveck, who only just lost his world title. See how Brook fairs in comparison to Berto. Still in his prime and has only 1 loss.
Or possibly Luis Carlos Abregu, who Bradley beat last year. Still only has 1 loss.
In my opinion:
1) Unify all 4 titles in the division (rarely happens).
2) Ring Magazine's 1 and 2 ranked fighters face each other. The winner becomes lineal champion.
IMO Morales is irrelevant at 140.. He's done nothing to prove he's a worthy title-holder. Just a paper champ. Khan trounces him.
Rios has done nothing at the division and isn't moving up in weight until next year so it's hard to see a fight between them even being made.. Khan UD's him though but has some scary moments, maybe even gets knocked down once or twice.
Khan-Guerrero would be a great fight but I favour Khan to win by a clear, but close, UD. Maybe something like 115-113 or 115-112.
Guerrero is injured though and won't be back until Jan-Feb, and will want some tune-up fights at the weight before taking on the best in the division so I can't see Khan-Guerrero ever happening unless Guerrero moves up to 147 having won titles at 140 in order to further increase his profile (non-boxing fans don't know who he is, especially in the UK).
Khan should move up in weight and take on Brook. Brook should have the WBA title if everything goes to plan and beats Senchenko early next year. Khan beats Brook..
He should then try to unify against Berto for the IBF title. Maybe late 2012 he should fight Mayweather, but I'm hoping Pac-Mayweather happens then. So late 2012 Khan should probably fight Ortiz.
Fighting prime-Brook, prime-Berto and prime-Ortiz is better than fighting a past-prime Morales, a fresh from injury Guerrero, still in his prime but who hasn't fought at 140, and Rios (prime) who hasn't fought at 140.
so who does he bump down? robinson? armstrong? Pep? Greb? b Leonard? srl? Ali? the list goes on. How is he even remotely close to being greater than anyone of those?
Good point, I don't know.. Guess he doesn't rank higher than those fighters.
Why not? He's a future hall-of-famer, with a title at 154, who has just avenged one of his only defeats. He's not in his prime but he's not way past it like Shane was when Pac fought him. Would be another good name on Mayweather's resume and another title at 154.. Floyd-Cotto is a case of better late than never.
TOP 10 easily maybe TOP 5
http://ecdn1.hark.com/images/000/002/072/2072/original.jpg
2 wins over Pacman, 1 over Martinez at 154, 1 over Cotto at 154, 1 over Khan, 1 over Bradley, 1 over Berto, 1 over Canelo. And he could perhaps be top-5.
But that means him fighting for another 3 years with no vacations... Therefore it's not happening.
2 time lineal champ at 147..first when he beat baldo.second when he beat mosley
Mosley was not lineal champ, i.e. he did not hold the Ring Magazine title.
However BoxingScene "recognized" Mosley as their lineal champion because he beat Margarito, in a fight between their number 1 and 2 ranked fighters. So BoxingScene created their own "lineage". Floyd beat Mosley to become BoxingScene's "lineal champion". And has held on to the "title" since that victory last year.
If you check BoxingScene's divisional rankings, they still see him as "champion" and therefore rank him higher than Pacquiao at 147, even though the Ring Magazine title is vacant.
Floyd is currently a 1-time Welterweight lineal champ, but if he fightts Pacquiao it'll be a fight between number 1 and number 2 in the division so the Ring Magazine title and therefore lineal title would be on the line, meaning Floyd would then become a 2-time lineal champ at 147.
Hypothetical scenario:
Mayweather has a trilogy with Pacquiao.
- Mayweather wins the first fight by split decision.
- They immediately rematch and Mayweather loses the second fight by TKO on cuts midway through the fight whilst leading the fight on points.
- In an immediate rubber fight Floyd wins by a clear UD.
I feel that this does MORE for Mayweather's legacy than remaining undefeated...
Here's my reasoning:
1) Pacquiao's win over Floyd would be the best win of Pacquiao's career and would therefore mean that Pacman was still a not "old", "shot", "past-prime" etc when Floyd beat him in their first and 3rd fights.
2) Floyd has avenged his only defeat and has therefore shown that he can bounce back from defeat, come back better and learn from his defeat. Something that would prove invaluable when ranking Floyd in terms of ATG status.
Otherwise, if he remained undefeated people will always question his ability to avenge his losses, something which might hold him back so he might not be rated highly by some people.
3) A trilogy of fights with another ATG would further enhance his popularity and legacy.
Does anybody agree with me that this is better for Floyd than remaining undefeated?
Khan. 11th round TKO... Peterson's corner pulls him out, or ref stops it..
The first 6 rounds will be pretty even, probably 3 rounds each or some drawn rounds, however Khan then picks up the pace and starts to time Peterson better.
Khan outboxes Peterson over the next 4 or 5 rounds and lands power shots to the head and body at will forcing a stoppage.
As long as those 3 fights are Bradley, Senchenko and Mayweather I don't mind.
It would mean that going in to their fight, Manny would hold the WBO and WBA titles while Floyd would have the WBC title, making their fight for the lineal crown and the undisputed title, which would be pretty cool.
His next 5 fights should be:
- Arce @ 122
- Nishioka @ 122
- Darchinyan-Moreno winner @ 122
- Mares-Agbeko winner @ 122
- Gamboa @ 126 (if Gamboa is still fighting at 126, if not then fight him at 130)
you claim it's an unbiased list yet you call Mayweather "gaylove"... smh
you're list sucks.
Pac,
Martinez,
Donaire,
Mayweather,
JMM,
Wlad,
Hopkins,
Froch,
Segura,
Khan.
Ward, Bradley, Gamboa, Bute, Nishioka make up 10-15.
What's wrong with this dude... less than 2 years ago he fought Katsidis for an interim title and got over £100,000. then he gambled away and spent all his money and now he's back with an excellent victory yet he's f*cked up again... he has a lot of potential but is wasting it.
great video, thanks... what a man, a true inspiration...
just curious. he spent 26 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, so would the US courts financially compensate him for the 26 years of freedom he lost? He should at least be able to sue them for lost revenue i.e. money he could have made if he was free..