"Daring to Be Great" Has an Expensive Pricetag and it Always Has

[-MAKAVELLI-]

After getting knocked out like that I think he deserved it

no wonder the mfr was all cheery after they woke his as5 up

[Mr.Fantastic]

Every day you hear "today's fighters don't dare to be great like the fighters of the past." In some cases that may be true. But what people fail to realize is that, yes these old school fighters dared to be great, but they were compensated HEAVILY for taking on such risks. Let's take a look at how some of these fighters of the past were rewarded for "Daring to Be Great".

Common examples that are used where a smaller fighter moves up in weight:

1. Duran made $1.5 million, by far his biggest payday ever in his first fight with Leonard. $8 million for an immediate rematch.

2. Leonard made $12 million in his fight against Marvin Hagler at 160.

3. Pacquiao made $11 million plus to fight Oscar De La Hoya

4. Mayweather made:

-$25 million to fight Oscar De La Hoya
-$32 million to fight Miguel Cotto
-$mega trillion gazillion to fight Canelo

5. Marquez made $3.2 million to fight Mayweather, $5 million to move up and fight Pacquiao

6. Roy Jones made $10 million to fight John Ruiz

7. Amir Khan made $13 million to fight Canelo

8. Shane Mosley made $4.5 million plus to fight Oscar De La Hoya

9. Cotto made $7 million to fight Martinez

10. B-Hop made $5 million to fight Tarver


Very rarely do you see a guy "daring to be great" without making millions upon millions of dollars. So be careful when you criticize "X fighter" for not "moving up like my favorite fighter of the past" when your favorite fighter was compensated greatly for taking on such a risk.

Aren't better examples of "daring to be great" like Rigondeaux unifying a division in 12 fights, Lomachenko fighting for a world title in 2 fights, Pacquiao going after Barrera in his first test at 126, etc. etc.??? And what goes unnoticed is the failures (e.g. every over-matched Golovkin opponent that could have gone another route but wanted a shot at the best)


The number one argument I see coming is:

C'mon PBP. Every guy you listed was a proven, elite fighter that earned the right to those paydays.

My counter to that is:

How did they become proven, elite fighters in the first place? They became proven, elite fighters by beating the best fighters in their division and moving up after they handled their business in each respective division. That's why you need to be patient and let these current fighters build their resumes by knocking off the top fighters in their divisions before asking them to "dare to be great."

Those weren't risks for Floyd. He wanted the money, not the risk of greatness.

[Razcal26]

Those weren't risks for Floyd. He wanted the money, not the risk of greatness.

Uh, yes they were risks.

He didn't have to pursue Oscar and agree to everything Oscar wanted.
He didn't have to fight Canelo either.

[Mr.Fantastic]

Uh, yes they were risks.

He didn't have to pursue Oscar and agree to everything Oscar wanted.
He didn't have to fight Canelo either.

True risk would of been fighting Cotto when it really mattered at WW, fighting Oscar at an earlier time(yes I understand the weight advantage Oscar had but he wasn't at his best), and Pacquiao when it truly mattered. Floyd isn't much of a risk taker.

He fought Canelo at a catch weight. If he was a risk taker, he wouldn't have to make him cut more weight.

Dudes acting like Floyd is a risk taker.

[Eff Pandas]

Eff P, my man the thing is If Khan had a chance to win he WOULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN THE FIGHT!

LOL, solid point, but Khan wasn't a part of that end of the decision.

With all due respect winning was never on his mind, just the payday.

I don't believe this for a second. For all the things I & others can dog & have dogged Khan about his belief in his own abilities has never really been lacking. I definitely feel like Khan knew this was a risky fight & he had to hear all the people talking about how little chance they felt he had, but I firmly believe he walked into that ring feeling like he could win.

And I thought he fought like he could win. I had him winning the fight (3-2) at the time of the KO. And if he had a little less confidence & not have gotten closer & closer to Canelo in the 5th & 6th round we might all be *****ing about the judges giving Canelo another sketchy decision this week.

[Razcal26]

True risk would of been fighting Cotto when it really mattered at WW, fighting Oscar at an earlier time(yes I understand the weight advantage Oscar had but he wasn't at his best), and Pacquiao when it truly mattered. Floyd isn't much of a risk taker.

He fought Canelo at a catch weight. If he was a risk taker, he wouldn't have to make him cut more weight.

Dudes acting like Floyd is a risk taker.

Well, you're wrong on multiple accounts so lets sort each one out.

Regarding Cotto - According to Bob Arum, Floyd agreed to fight Cotto, Hatton and Margarito as long as Arum would guarantee Floyd that he could fight Oscar......................... Bob said no. Also, it is well known that after Cotto was ringside for what Floyd did to Gatti, Cotto (along with Moseley) deemed a Floyd fight not worth the risk.

Regarding Oscar - Bob Arum stopped that fight taking place for years. No need to go into detail.

Pacquiao - The same Pacquiao that came out and said they TURNED DOWN the fight in 2011? A comment that Freddie Roach co-signed? That Pacquiao?

Canelo - Catchweight my ass. Everybody here loves to whine about how Canelo is so heavy on fight night to the point where no one cares about his weight during the weigh in................except when it comes to Floyd huh?

So, nah. He's taken risks. You just don;t acknowledge them because he came out on top.

[-PBP-]

Those weren't risks for Floyd. He wanted the money, not the risk of greatness.

This thread went completely over your head. You could just read the thread title to help figure it out.

[Mr.Fantastic]

Well, you're wrong on multiple accounts so lets sort each one out.

Regarding Cotto - According to Bob Arum, Floyd agreed to fight Cotto, Hatton and Margarito as long as Arum would guarantee Floyd that he could fight Oscar......................... Bob said no. Also, it is well known that after Cotto was ringside for what Floyd did to Gatti, Cotto (along with Moseley) deemed a Floyd fight not worth the risk.

Regarding Oscar - Bob Arum stopped that fight taking place for years. No need to go into detail.

Pacquiao - The same Pacquiao that came out and said they TURNED DOWN the fight in 2011? A comment that Freddie Roach co-signed? That Pacquiao?

Canelo - Catchweight my ass. Everybody here loves to whine about how Canelo is so heavy on fight night to the point where no one cares about his weight during the weigh in................except when it comes to Floyd huh?

So, nah. He's taken risks. You just don;t acknowledge them because he came out on top.

Yea let's blame Bob like always. Mayweather retired. End of.

With Canelo, all catch weights are shit. Not just Floyd.

[Mr.Fantastic]

This thread went completely over your head. You could just read the thread title to help figure it out.

I did and laughed that you put Floyd.

[Razcal26]

Yea let's blame Bob like always. Mayweather retired. End of.

With Canelo, all catch weights are shit. Not just Floyd.

Right. You can just exit now. It's all Floyd's fault.

Complete waste of time.