When fighters beg for money to fight a superstar up front, to me, they are admitting defeat. If you were that confident, why not just earn your check by beating the man who makes the checks. That's what Maidana did with Broner (and Ortiz), and then went on to earn himself two paydays against Floyd.
Even a roided up Evander I don't think takes Mike in his prime. Even he said he was lucky to fight Mike when he did because Mike became predictable in the way he moves.
I actually think a "post ruiz" Joshua does much better against Fury than a "pre Ruiz" Joshua. I see Joshua putting a rest to the "best heavyweight" argument.
One of my favorite lead up interviews in hindsight was Mayweather vs Mitchell, and Larry Merchant was asking Floyd how he feels about not being popular. Floyd's response: "I don't care about popularity, 20-30 years from now, they will say he was the best fighter ever."
I'm a Floyd fan, but I think it was obvious why it took so long when we actually watch their fight. Pacquiao was the only fighter of his generation that was his equal.
No matter how many times I watch and score the fight, I get 114-114.
Marquez had to jump on serious steroids to mess with MAnny, and even on roids, he had about a round left in him before eManny stopped him. A well-timed right hand and a boatload of steroids got him that fight. No athlete randomly gets muscles and acne for the first time in their career at 35. Right AFTER hiring Victor Conte, a specialist at getting passed drug tests. That 4th win was a cheat.
Marquez is a great fighter, and he was competitive with pac everytime, but it took extra help to help actually win.
Canelo is absolutely the best p4p fighter right now. Champ in 4 weight classes and his resume is comparable to no one on that list. He's BY FAR the number 1.