what will it take to be the new greatest of all time

[wmute]

you have to understand that most of Robinson's opponents in his prime and after were on the same level as Mayweather's very best opponents so far . thats what the difference is fron then and now

quite the contrary, you have to understand that while robinson has a lot of good opponents, the majority of them were not lamotta or gavilan... they were just tomato cans. Like it's the case for any fighter fighting 20 times a year in any era. You know, in his first years he fought a lot, just to make a living, and he faced a lot of cans. After people started loving him, he fought a lot because ppl would pay to see him fight anybody. So he did this, he fought anybody, which included a lot of sacrificial lambs.

In fact reading your sentence you are saying that out of the 136 fights he had until maxim in '52, most (most=at least half in english) are on the level of mayw's opposition. OK now you show me 69 names out of robinson's record until 1952 that compare to castillo, genaro hernandez, judah.

[joeytrimble]

What I'm saying is, it secures your place in history, knowing that you can overcome that loss and correct it, Ali wouldn't be the man he's thought of today if he didn't comeback and beat Frazier, Norton and Spinks.. and I doubt Leonard would if he didnt have the legendary fights with Duran.

actually i think beating a trifecta of beasts hearns and hagler were suposed to kill leonard

beating the rest of the fab 4 is what did it for ray ray

[mgkirkpatrick]

i think there is a difference between being the greatest of all time and being the best. technically and purely mayweather is one of the best but i dont think one of the greatest.. there has to be an element of x factor if the G word is to be used. does that make sense? probably not. best refers to boxing ability greatest refers to the whole package. if anyone gets me put it in better words its 3 in the morning here ****.

[oliverlt]

to be the new greatest of all time you have to

get banned from boxingscene atleast three times
have one amatuer fight
post one year old pics of yourself and claim your bigger now
be cleaver enough to rearrange your username so people still know its you back again.

[oldgringo]

This thread is basically being addressed towards Mayweather, so that is who I will focus my post on.

Floyd has already laid the groundwork at 130 and 135 to be a HOF fighter. He has beaten Castillo, Corrales, Gerena, Chavez, Hernandez, etc. Those former or current champions as well as a good dose of other solid fighters have really made his early record look good.

He hasn't been taking on the best there is lately, and this is hurting his legacy. Floyd has pretty much every tool an all-time great should have....class A defense inside and out, infighting ability, combination punching, body punching, technical prowess...

Should Floyd win out for the most part of his career, he'll definitely be the best fighter since Whitaker. That's no knock on him from me either because Whitaker is one of the 15 best p4p fighters ever in my opinion. In order to do that, he's going to have to show some clout in the face of adversity, and he's going to have to take on better competition. Beating Margarito, Cotto (who I hold in very high regard) and HAtton will boost his already excellent resume. Should he go up and beat a 154 pound champion will top it off and thrust him into the 10 ten pound for pound all-time in my opinion.

I'm not much of a Floyd fan. He's unbelievably skilled, but not my favorite.

[Rockin']

It will take a division deep in talent and a man brave enough to fight them all. There are many, many great fights out there to be made, but few to accept the challenges.

Rockin'