"If you retire undefeated it means you didn't fight everyone you were supposed to"

[Sugar Adam Ali]

ofcourse its possible. Have to be very special and no when to hang them up though. I dont think anyone wouldve beaten Roy Jones

Jones took a decade between big fights, plus he also lost to Griffith, and tarver..
Both guys were considered top level light heavys so it's safe to assume Roy can be beat... Your prime is a lot shorter than your career, so if u fight top guys every time, your bound to lose, it may be a crazy loss like montel, or legit like tarver,, but it happens
Let Roy compete at light heavy during the spinks era when the division was stacked, you will lose at least once...

[ThePunchingBag]

Not just who you're supposed to, but when you're supposed to.

If everyone fought each other in their peak or at their prime instead of stalling for years at a time then nobody would go undefeated.

[vman075]

You are a Floyd Mayweather or Pacquiao fan aren't you?

There are other KNOWN names to retire undefeated, Floyd is not the only.

1. Joe Calzaghe
2. Rocky Marciano
3. Ricardo López

So are all of those fighters cherry pickers as well?

I don't think they are necessarily cherry pickers but there are some questions about them. Full disclosure, I don't know much about the strawweight division so i won't talk about Lopez.
Calzaghe could have definitely come to America wayyy earlier and fought better competition. He has 4 names out of 46 fights and arguable lost to Hopkins in one of those four. I've heard he was offered to fight Roy jones many years earlier than he did to which I would say yes he did cherry pick. He fought him way past his prime. I also think he turned down a Froch fight at one point in his career. Lastly, its not his fault but the SMW division was very weak at the time he reigned, it got much stronger a couple of years later. I think his retirement is justified due to his age but he still had more to prove so to answer the original question, no he did not fight everyone.
Marciano retired undefeated but also retired very young (32 years old). Also he didn't actually fight a champion until his 43rd fight out of 49 fights. He was a champ for only 3 years. Compare that with the heavyweight champion of the sixties, Ali. He fought for a title in his 20th fight of 61 career fights. He won a title in 1961 and fought until 1984, whereas Marciano won it in 1953 and retired in 1955. I wasn't around in his time but looking at his record I would assume he still had more to prove in his career when he retired, he was only at the top for 3 years and that's why he isn't looked at as the greatest of all time.

[FrenchDeLaHoya]

i feel like its the ONLY way to go undefeated
picking opponents exacty the way mayweather did

[Jack Napier]

odds are if you fight EVERYONE, you're gonna get beat at some point
unless all the guys ranked in your era are subpar kinda fighters
in that case, it can't be held against you
but you aren't gonna get the highest praise if you had no comp

[#1Assassin]

in most cases, yes. there are exceptions though.

marciano fought everyone he was supposed to, most of his fights were against terrible opposition to make up for his lack of an amateur background. he only fought at the highest level for a few years and mostly against smaller and/or aging opposition. but they were still the best out there and they were truly great fighters even though they were blown up and past their prime.

ricardo lopez almost everyone, just one or two guys he missed out on. most fighters do that though, you seldom see someone who fought everyone carl froch included. they both have/had tremendous resumes though and lopez never lost despite the fact that he stayed on top for a long time and fought just about everyone.

then you have guys like calzaghe and harry simon who simply didnt make nearly all the fights they should have and to whom frochs statement certainly applies. it doesnt apply to everyone though as ive already stated.

[Boxing Goat]

You are a Floyd Mayweather or Pacquiao fan aren't you?

There are other KNOWN names to retire undefeated, Floyd is not the only.

1. Joe Calzaghe
2. Rocky Marciano
3. Ricardo López

So are all of those fighters cherry pickers as well?

Calzaghe fought bums for 95% of his title reign afraid to travel and Marciano only had 7 title fights and retired very young. Neither fought the fighters they were supposed to.

Lopez shouldn't even be in this discussion.

[Boxing Goat]

You forgot Sven Ottke and the answer is no, they all fought the best.

I hope that was sarcasm

[Juof]

What if you don't fight everyone your supposed to and still have losses does this make you bad?

[Fighting_Pride]

very true.


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