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What's your definition of a 'live opponent'?
Has he fought fights where he was favoured to lose or that split the boxing watching public? Not really, but I would argue that a large part of that can be attributed to the fact that he is so good it's difficult to pick ANYONE to beat him. Even all-time greats such as Manny Pacquiao and (admittedly old) Shane Mosley are largely favoured to catch a schooling by the boxing community.
Has he been involved in competitive fights? Yes. Whether you want to condemn him for falling into a competitive bout with a lesser opponent or not doesn't really matter considering the question in the title - he has provided us with two-sided bouts over the past 8 years.
Has he fought fights that the fans wanted to see? He definitely has, revisionist history aside. Okay, there are fights the fans wanted to see that he didn't fight (Cotto and particularly Margarito come to mind immediately) but it would be mendacious to suggest people weren't calling for or interested in bouts such as Mayweather-Hatton, Mayweather-De La Hoya, Mayweather-Judah, Mayweather-Baldomir and Mayweather-Gatti.
Okay, it's not the most impressive run of form in boxing history but it's not nearly as bad as people (people who often didn't even experience the run first hand - not aimed at you for the record) like to make out.
Has he fought fights where he was favoured to lose or that split the boxing watching public? Not really, but I would argue that a large part of that can be attributed to the fact that he is so good it's difficult to pick ANYONE to beat him. Even all-time greats such as Manny Pacquiao and (admittedly old) Shane Mosley are largely favoured to catch a schooling by the boxing community.
Has he been involved in competitive fights? Yes. Whether you want to condemn him for falling into a competitive bout with a lesser opponent or not doesn't really matter considering the question in the title - he has provided us with two-sided bouts over the past 8 years.
Has he fought fights that the fans wanted to see? He definitely has, revisionist history aside. Okay, there are fights the fans wanted to see that he didn't fight (Cotto and particularly Margarito come to mind immediately) but it would be mendacious to suggest people weren't calling for or interested in bouts such as Mayweather-Hatton, Mayweather-De La Hoya, Mayweather-Judah, Mayweather-Baldomir and Mayweather-Gatti.
Okay, it's not the most impressive run of form in boxing history but it's not nearly as bad as people (people who often didn't even experience the run first hand - not aimed at you for the record) like to make out.
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