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The problem with Mayweather is he never fought the great fighters of his era during their primes. Not one. He usually waited until they were all past their primes and in one instance when 1 fighter was too green.
All the greats fought other greats of there time in their career primes. This was important to them. Yes, money was important to them too, but they were not obsessed with this A-side B-side bull****. This obsession with A-side has been created by Mayweather and his minions have picked up on it and have made it the be all and end all of what is suppose to be important. Even the press has gotten caught up in it. And now other fighters are doing it even when they, themselves are not A material yet or may never be A material.
De La Hoya fought Trinidad when they were both in their prime. He fought Quartey, Mosley, Vargas, Hopkins all when they were in the prime of their careers.
Sugar Ray fought Hearns when they were both in their primes, also Benitez and Duran. Hoyfield fought Bowe while both were in their prime. Jones & Toney fought each other while they were in their prime. Ali fought Frasier, Chavez fought Taylor, Lewis fought Vitali, Barerra & Morales fought each other in their prime. I can go on and on when great fighters fought the best of their eras while each combatant was in the prime of their careers.
On the other side you have Mayweather. Who talks about how smart he is when it comes to picking who he fights and how smart he is when setting up all the rules that his opponent must obey in order to have the honor of fighting him. I must say its not being smart, but being clever. So Mayweather only chooses his opponent after careful consideration.
His decision is based on lowering the risk of possibly losing. And fighting fighters past their prime lowers the risk of him losing far more than any other factor. Let us look at the evidence. Now I am just looking at the best of his era. I do give him credit for his time at 130lbs, but when he moved up to 135 things changed. He fought arguably the best lightweight champ on the 1st decade of the 21st century, Castillo, and everyone knows he lost that fight. So 135lbs is the last time he fought a great champion while both were in their prime.
He fought no one of worth at 140lbs. Next stop was 147 and above. He fought De La Hoya at the end of his career when Oscar was a part-time fighter. He fought Mosley and Cotto when both were past their prime. Mayweather could of fought much better competition, but the risk factor was much lower against Baldomir, Gatti, Judah, Guererro & Ortiz so he took those fights instead.
Pacquiao is the best example of my theory. A fight that should of taken place 5-7 yrs ago only happened 2 weeks ago. Now something like this is unique. An instance like this has never really happened in the modern age of boxing. The few times something similar like this happened , when 2 great fighters never fought, happened in the early 1900s and it had to do with with race. There was absolutely 0 excuses for Mayweather to have not fought Paq 5-7yrs ago. The excuses of money, promoters, drug testing, etc. were used only to stop the fight from happening. Imagine if Leonard made these excuses and refused to fight Hearns. If Jones did the same thing with Toney, Holyfield made the same excuses regarding Bowe. No one would of stood for it and these excuses would of been addressed and the fight would of been made. But Mayweather finally accepts the fight after everyone finally had enough. And by this time the risk of him losing was reduced significantly. By 2015 Manny had a few loses, and he was 36 1/2 yrs of age ( a fighter of his type, wear & tear made him much older). Mayweather's age of 39 is much less of a factor due to his style and his 2 yr lay-off.
Do we all agree that Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, De La Hoya, Duran, Chavez would of fought Paq while they were all equally in their prime? We all know the answer to that. We know the answer because we know the characters of the above named fighters. They all wanted to fight the best while they were all at there best. They did this during there careers because it matters. Its about fair play, its about honor and they get all the glory this way. This way there can be no excuses at all and defeating the greats of there time while they were still in there prime made the victory so much more meaningful, historically important, and sweeter. Mayweather cannot say the same about his career and even though he has a win against Pacquiao we all know how meaningless it is not because of Paqs injury, but because he fought an old fighter and there is no glory or bragging rights when beating an old fighter (just asked Calzaghe).
All the greats fought other greats of there time in their career primes. This was important to them. Yes, money was important to them too, but they were not obsessed with this A-side B-side bull****. This obsession with A-side has been created by Mayweather and his minions have picked up on it and have made it the be all and end all of what is suppose to be important. Even the press has gotten caught up in it. And now other fighters are doing it even when they, themselves are not A material yet or may never be A material.
De La Hoya fought Trinidad when they were both in their prime. He fought Quartey, Mosley, Vargas, Hopkins all when they were in the prime of their careers.
Sugar Ray fought Hearns when they were both in their primes, also Benitez and Duran. Hoyfield fought Bowe while both were in their prime. Jones & Toney fought each other while they were in their prime. Ali fought Frasier, Chavez fought Taylor, Lewis fought Vitali, Barerra & Morales fought each other in their prime. I can go on and on when great fighters fought the best of their eras while each combatant was in the prime of their careers.
On the other side you have Mayweather. Who talks about how smart he is when it comes to picking who he fights and how smart he is when setting up all the rules that his opponent must obey in order to have the honor of fighting him. I must say its not being smart, but being clever. So Mayweather only chooses his opponent after careful consideration.
His decision is based on lowering the risk of possibly losing. And fighting fighters past their prime lowers the risk of him losing far more than any other factor. Let us look at the evidence. Now I am just looking at the best of his era. I do give him credit for his time at 130lbs, but when he moved up to 135 things changed. He fought arguably the best lightweight champ on the 1st decade of the 21st century, Castillo, and everyone knows he lost that fight. So 135lbs is the last time he fought a great champion while both were in their prime.
He fought no one of worth at 140lbs. Next stop was 147 and above. He fought De La Hoya at the end of his career when Oscar was a part-time fighter. He fought Mosley and Cotto when both were past their prime. Mayweather could of fought much better competition, but the risk factor was much lower against Baldomir, Gatti, Judah, Guererro & Ortiz so he took those fights instead.
Pacquiao is the best example of my theory. A fight that should of taken place 5-7 yrs ago only happened 2 weeks ago. Now something like this is unique. An instance like this has never really happened in the modern age of boxing. The few times something similar like this happened , when 2 great fighters never fought, happened in the early 1900s and it had to do with with race. There was absolutely 0 excuses for Mayweather to have not fought Paq 5-7yrs ago. The excuses of money, promoters, drug testing, etc. were used only to stop the fight from happening. Imagine if Leonard made these excuses and refused to fight Hearns. If Jones did the same thing with Toney, Holyfield made the same excuses regarding Bowe. No one would of stood for it and these excuses would of been addressed and the fight would of been made. But Mayweather finally accepts the fight after everyone finally had enough. And by this time the risk of him losing was reduced significantly. By 2015 Manny had a few loses, and he was 36 1/2 yrs of age ( a fighter of his type, wear & tear made him much older). Mayweather's age of 39 is much less of a factor due to his style and his 2 yr lay-off.
Do we all agree that Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, De La Hoya, Duran, Chavez would of fought Paq while they were all equally in their prime? We all know the answer to that. We know the answer because we know the characters of the above named fighters. They all wanted to fight the best while they were all at there best. They did this during there careers because it matters. Its about fair play, its about honor and they get all the glory this way. This way there can be no excuses at all and defeating the greats of there time while they were still in there prime made the victory so much more meaningful, historically important, and sweeter. Mayweather cannot say the same about his career and even though he has a win against Pacquiao we all know how meaningless it is not because of Paqs injury, but because he fought an old fighter and there is no glory or bragging rights when beating an old fighter (just asked Calzaghe).
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