Who fought the tougher competition? Floyd Mayweather Jr or Bernard Hopkins?

[Nay_Sayer]

The ratings disagree with you. Pacquiao was viewed as the best in the world only behind Mayweather himself. FACTS.

So who do you rate higher all time, Jones or Pacquiao?

[NachoMan]

Jones was undefeated and 18 months away from beating James Toney - a guy who is a legit ATG and no less than P4P #2 at that time.

Pacquiao, OTOH, had already been beaten by Bradley and KTFO courtesy of JMM by the time Floyd got his hands on him.

I'm sorry but 1993 Roy Jones jr is a stiffer test when compared to an ole' bum shoulder already beaten and KTFO'ed 2015 Manny Paquiao..

What knowledgeable fan could argue with this?

[HandsofIron]

I think that's a fair point. I suppose its always important to clearly define terms when debating anything. What precisely is meant by words like prime, physical prime, peak, etc. Lots of factors to consider when deciding what version of a fighter was the very best one. As we know, a fighter's physical prime doesn't necessarily align with his best or most significant wins. For example, Floyd's greatest win, a UD over Pac wasn't his greatest performance and both fighters would have much preferred to step into the ring as a prior version of themselves.

I always viewed physical or athletic prime as someone being in their 20's. Once they hit their 30's, all bets are off and father time can rear it's ugly head at any moment and fighters run the risk of getting old overnight.

But I digress, Tito was prime but was too small for Hopkins. Just look at Wilfredo Gomez, dominate at 122, he was a monster at that weight; as soon as he moved up to 126 he got destroyed by Sanchez.

[therealpugilist]

LOL yep. The worse threads on this forum are always about Mayweather. What he's done to the psyche of grown men is hilarious and scary.

the stuff of legend

[therealpugilist]

Jones was undefeated and 18 months away from beating James Toney - a guy who is a legit ATG and no less than P4P #2 at that time.

Pacquiao, OTOH, had already been beaten by Bradley and KTFO courtesy of JMM by the time Floyd got his hands on him.

I'm sorry but 1993 Roy Jones jr is a stiffer test when compared to an ole' bum shoulder already beaten and KTFO'ed 2015 Manny Paquiao..

roy jones of 1993 is a stiffer test than 95% of fighters but you have to be gullible tot hink Mannys shoulder was bum considering the shots he threw.....nobody is throwing punches in that manner with a major injury. dude most likely had a strain that he aggravated missing punches, dude was taking selfies raising his hands, no complaints in the corner

[HitmanTommy]

Thread turned out better than I expected.

[Boxing_1013]

You don't even know what prime means. How can they be prime but not peak?

Pretty easily...you could argue a guy was in his prime from year 1 to year 5 for example...but he was really at his peak, or best level, during year 3...not really hard to understand.

[Boxing_1013]

they have no idea that the time matters, not just the names

this is about overall body of work and oppoents, of course roy is the greatest fighter either had fought but neither time was he in his absolute prime.

Serious question...you think Floyd fought all of his opponents at their best weight/the best version of those guys? I mean that's just kind of crazy to say that man...like Bhop clearly fought his big names closer to their best level vs Floyd dude...not even close.

[Nay_Sayer]

who fought tougher comp Hopkins...
there's no tougher comp than a prime, undefeated jones, prime, undefeated tito, an undefeated slightly past prime Calzaghe, and prime, undefeated Kovalev…

the closest to that Floyd has is a prime undefeated hatton, corrales, and canelo

I would add JLC to that list..

[Nay_Sayer]

What knowledgeable fan could argue with this?

1993 Jones would go undefeated for the next 10 years on his way from 160 to HW - dominating nearly everyone he faced in the process. Not sure how any reasonable person could consider ole' man bum shoulder off the Power Pellets 2015 Manny Pacquiao to be the bigger challenge over a young damn near invincible Roy Jones jr. Doesn't make sense...