Can Floyd Mayweather be considered a HOF'er and ATG?

[M.I Truth ?]

I may be in the minority here but I have always got the feeling that people would look at Floyd's career career completely different if he had fought Cotto. Thats the only fight he could have fought before he retired that would have satisfied the masses. A fight with someone like Margarito would not have done it. Reason being that Margarito gained a lot of his star power when he stopped Cotto. If Floyds get to Tony first and wins a UD people would down play Margarito quite a bit. Margarito post Cotto is a whole different story but Floyd was already retired. If Floyd had fought Cotto then called it a career I think it would be more difficult not see him as an all time great. I see all the post about him ducking people but the only fight I feel he should have taken without a doubt is Cotto. That is the fight thats been there for the longest. I know he wanted to fight him at 140lbs but it would have been great at 147lbs with Cotto being a title holder along with Floyd. All the other people who claim to have been ducked is just a bit overblown to me. I like Floyd and feel he is an all time great. I like Cotto and feel he is a warrior. I just wanted to see those two go at it. Again, in my opinion we don't have this conversation if one fight had happened.

[IMDAZED]

I may be in the minority here but I have always got the feeling that people would look at Floyd's career career completely different if he had fought Cotto. Thats the only fight he could have fought before he retired that would have satisfied the masses. A fight with someone like Margarito would not have done it. Reason being that Margarito gained a lot of his star power when he stopped Cotto. If Floyds get to Tony first and wins a UD people would down play Margarito quite a bit. Margarito post Cotto is a whole different story but Floyd was already retired. If Floyd had fought Cotto then called it a career I think it would be more difficult not see him as an all time great. I see all the post about him ducking people but the only fight I feel he should have taken without a doubt is Cotto. That is the fight thats been there for the longest. I know he wanted to fight him at 140lbs but it would have been great at 147lbs with Cotto being a title holder along with Floyd. All the other people who claim to have been ducked is just a bit overblown to me. I like Floyd and feel he is an all time great. I like Cotto and feel he is a warrior. I just wanted to see those two go at it. Again, in my opinion we don't have this conversation if one fight had happened.

It's not just Cotto. Floyd retired smack dab in his prime. Maybe a little past it but not much. He was the best fighter in the world. If he had continued there could've been Cotto, Margarito, Mosley, Williams, Clottey, etc. Who knows how it would've played out. But the challenges at welter were endless.

[karrapato]

Sure he is!

He may not be the best ever like he said, but definitely he was one of the best defensive boxers in the boxing history

[andrewcuff]

It's not just Cotto. Floyd retired smack dab in his prime. Maybe a little past it but not much. He was the best fighter in the world. If he had continued there could've been Cotto, Margarito, Mosley, Williams, Clottey, etc. Who knows how it would've played out. But the challenges at welter were endless.

Yep that sums it up nicely and thats exactly the reason why I will never respect the man.

On one hand he's talking about how he's better than Ray Leonard because he lost to Camacho, he's better than Ali because he lost to Berbick and he'd beat anyone 154 and under .... yet on the other hand he retires in his prime having avoided several very good fighter at 140 and 147.

I know it sounds silly, but I'd have respect for him if he just went public and said 'I'm only in this for the money'. At least he would be honest then. You can't mouth off how you are better than Ray Robinson then dodge all serious challenges at the bigger weights. No-one forced the man to move up in weight.

[M.I Truth ?]

It's not just Cotto. Floyd retired smack dab in his prime. Maybe a little past it but not much. He was the best fighter in the world. If he had continued there could've been Cotto, Margarito, Mosley, Williams, Clottey, etc. Who knows how it would've played out. But the challenges at welter were endless.

I hear that but from where I sit a lot of those other fights would not have changed much unless he fought all of them. Basically cleaning out the division. In a perfect world I want to see all those guys fight each other because I love boxing. But on this very forum Pre Margarito a lot of people were already down playing a Floyd Mosley fight claiming that Mosley had nothing to offer due to age. I want somebody /anybody big to fight Clottey asap but none of the top WW seem interested right now and not too many people are holding it against them. And its clear no one is in a rush to make a fight with Williams. A lot of it is because some of these fights would not be mega fights in the view of the public. To us boxing fight any good fight is a mega fight. The reason I listed Cotto was because the mega fight was potential was there and the quality of opponent could not be diminished. All the guys you listed would be great fights but with maybe the exception of Mosley they wouldn't have generated the Mega fight money and attention.

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

At 130 and 135, he achieved a lot. Not nearly enough to be considered the best in each weight class, but a lot.

Its when he turns into his Money persona and starts cherry picking his fights while proclaiming he beats anyone 154 and under that bothers me.

I'll give him credit as a HOF'er 100%, but as a top 50 ATG, I'm not entirely convinced.

I can certainly understand where you are coming from, and I believe we are both much closer in opinion than either one of us realize.

[IMDAZED]

I hear that but from where I sit a lot of those other fights would not have changed much unless he fought all of them. Basically cleaning out the division. In a perfect world I want to see all those guys fight each other because I love boxing. But on this very forum Pre Margarito a lot of people were already down playing a Floyd Mosley fight claiming that Mosley had nothing to offer due to age. I want somebody /anybody big to fight Clottey asap but none of the top WW seem interested right now and not too many people are holding it against them. And its clear no one is in a rush to make a fight with Williams. A lot of it is because some of these fights would not be mega fights in the view of the public. To us boxing fight any good fight is a mega fight. The reason I listed Cotto was because the mega fight was potential was there and the quality of opponent could not be diminished. All the guys you listed would be great fights but with maybe the exception of Mosley they wouldn't have generated the Mega fight money and attention.

And that's what his career at the higher weights was all about.

[andrewcuff]

I can certainly understand where you are coming from, and I believe we are both much closer in opinion than either one of us realize.

Yeah probably!

BTW I love the album in your sig.

[M.I Truth ?]

And that's what his career at the higher weights was all about.

I agree but also feel that most boxers with name value over 30 look to the biggest possible pay days. I think in this day and age with all the technology and media and access to fighters we scrutinize fighters a bit more. I think most fighters try to do what Floyd has done in seeking Mega bouts later in their careers but he gets a little more scrutiny than his peers. I wish Floyd would come out and fight all of the guys that are on top of the ww division. I also hope the Champs at that division start to unify. Not extremely likely to happen but I would love if it did. Point being money is on most fighters agendas being the number one priority and keeps us from seeing some good stuff.

[oc9979]

He was never the true champ at 140. After Hatton beat Kodtya. Mayweather offered him a fight TWICE at 140 for ring title. Hatton said NO

You know Oscar KO'd Ricardo Mayorga for WBC title at 154 and was ranked best JR MW when Mayweather beat him

Do you even know anything about Floyd

de la hoya won that title right after he lost to bhop. and mayorga won that vacant title after tito destroyed him.

also de la hoya before fighting mayorga he fought sturm and hopkin which one was a lost and the other one was a gift. then one fight before that he looked good but lost to mosley which it was his last fight at 154 and it was almost 3 years apart from when he fought mayorga and almost 4 when he fought mayweather. then you beat mayorga and get rank #1. he didnt fight in over a year and still rank #1