Does not fighting the best in your era in thir primes exclude u from being the best..

[AlexKid]

It depends who are the "best" in fans eyes.

Like Margaritoppened.

The rest, Mosley, De La Hoya, Tszyu, all these guys Floyd called out but 1. Mosley rejected him twice, at 135 and 147, DLH rejected Floyd because he was with Arum and DLH didn't do business with him. Tszyu got stomped by Hatton right after Floyd publicly called him out on HBO.

Even if he didnt duck or hand pick opponents like many think he does, the fact that he did not face a prime pacman, DLH, etc is enough to put doubt on his legacy, especially when compared with greats from far more competitive eras, that fought all the big names.

[Larry the boss]

Even if he didnt duck or hand pick opponents like many think he does, the fact that he did not face a prime pacman, DLH, etc is enough to put doubt on his legacy, especially when compared with greats from far more competitive eras, that fought all the big names.

Name all these big named fighters who fought these big named fighters in their primes and won....

[racer59]

Roy Jones Jr didnt duck did he?

This had me laughing pretty hard. "Ya'll musta forgot"

[Rockin']

Actually Robinson clearly ducked Burley.

to call that potential match up a 'duck' is way off target. Sure, Burley has gained respect through his years, but that took years after his retirement to gain the respect that he deserved by the public. Burley was not even on Rays radar, can you guess why? Not because Burley was truly a formidable fighter but because Burley was not a draw and Robinson was straight out about the money factor. It was a fight that the public was not hip to, it didn't call out 'mega fight' to the public so it was passed on. Think about it, why would Robinson have to duck anybody?. He'd of fought King Kong , in a bout governed by the rules of Queensbury, if you offered him enough money ................. Rockin'

[A-Wolf]

Of course. ..........

[edgarg]

Thats not ducking thats standing up like a man for what you believe in, and doing it despite massive political and social pressure. Standing up and not ducking doesn't get more personified than with Muhammad Ali.

No it isn't. It's deliberately and with full knowledge breaking an important, visible law of the country in which he lived and made his money. And as well, he allied himself heart and soul with America-hating racists, who were nothing better than a cult of thugs. Even though he had an IQ of about 80, he should have known better.

They, and he, made full use of the idiot students and drug addicts who were roaming across the country, distracting the authorities, leaving dirt and filth behind them. Hippies....... just pure drek from which the country and the world has not yet recovered.

[JaYDeuce11]

Ya and thats why Muhammad Ali is still considered the GOAT. Bcause he fought everyone AND multiple times. Plus, he made boxing a popular sport instead of kind of underground like what it is now with peopel not knowing other fighters besides may n pac.

Its like why people consider Michael Jordan the GOAT because he had to beat the best of is era multiple times to get to the top like ewing, malone, reggie, barkley, magic, isiah, etc.

Mayweather if he retires after beating maidana, khan, danny garcia, thurman
He will still not be remembered as the greatest. One of the greats btu not thee

I say onyl way he achies that is if he goes on to beat maidana, beat pacquiao or bradley in the fall, beat sergio martinez next spring (if he gets past cotto) n beats wos ever hot welterweight at his ast fight.

[TitanBoy]

... of all time?

Take for example Mayweather jr not fighting pacman etc, or lennox lewis not fighting a prime tyson, bowe, or holyfield

Well it may be due to ducking or it may not be the fighters fault, but either way if you dont fight and beat the best in your era in their primes then the greats from other eras have already beaten you because they have already beaten the best in their era without ducking or avoiding the other big threats though misfortune or calculating cowardice.

Continued below.........

Or Wladimir not fighting Vitali.

Lewis fought a still very good version of Holyfield and beat the shyt out of a huge amount of good fighters.

Lennox destroys Wlad. H2H, resume to resume.

Deal with it racist.

[TitanBoy]

I don't give one *** if Wlad and Vitali are brothers.

The fact remains they didn't fight the best. Since they are the top 2.

Bottom line. They are brothers. That's cool. Still didn't fight the best.

[therealpugilist]

Look at the body of work...it's very rare to see two prime atg fight

in 45 fights Mayweather has beat better comp overall than guys with double or triple his amount of fights and won four lineal titles

in the big 3(wbc, Wba, ibf) era he has beat more champions and titlists than Duran, hearns, JCC, Whitaker, Morales, leonard,Pacquiao, etc

Leonard beat prime greats, none of the other did....nor did ray Robinson, Armstrong, arguello

It's rare most atg loose to guys not on their level if they were prime like all the aforementioned fighters