Top 5 biggest wins

[BKM-]

All era's and weights. Broad context needed.

Mine in no order:

Frazier-Ali I
Lamotta-Robinson II
Duran-Leonard I
Greb-Tunney
Mayweather-Pacquiao

[Joe Beamish]

Not Mayweather/Pacquaio. But your others are good.

Possibly the Louis/Schmeling rematch.

Tunney over Dempsey.

Douglas over Tyson.

[All in]

Not Mayweather/Pacquaio. But your others are good.

Possibly the Louis/Schmeling rematch.

Tunney over Dempsey.

Douglas over Tyson.

Spinks over Ali

[ShoulderRoll]

Some that deserve mention.

Jack Johnson over Jim Jeffries.
Jack Dempsey over Georges Carpentier.
Muhammad Ali over George Foreman.
Marvin Hagler over Thomas Hearns.
Felix Trinidad over Oscar de La Hoya.

[BKM-]

Not Mayweather/Pacquaio. But your others are good.

The fight disappointed but it's still the two best boxers of the era and century and close enough to their primes, both top 3 pound for pound and there's titles on the line.

[The Old LefHook]

People seem to forget that Fullmer over Spider Webb was a huge win. Or are there simply a lot of Fullmer haters out there?

[Joe Beamish]

The fight disappointed but it's still the two best boxers of the era and century and close enough to their primes, both top 3 pound for pound and there's titles on the line.

Not even close, for me anyway.

Mayweather/Pacquaio doesn't rank as a top 5 or even top 20 win all time for me, nor does it (I think) for most people.

"top 5 win" suggests something seismic, eye-opening. It suggests two different world views clashing at the height of vitality. It suggests something people will be talking about for decades, saying "that was awesome." It suggests a result that was surprising or impressive in some way.

For example, you listed Ali/Frazier I. Well hell yeah. An incredible fight, and an incredible win for Frazier for many, many reasons. We could spend all day on here talking about it. Top 5 fights are huge; movies are made about them, etc.

Mayweather/Pacquaio was lackluster. When people talk about it, they all say it sucked -- especially in comparison to expectations. We all know the fight should have happened at least 3 years earlier.

Another example: I wouldn't rank Leonard/Hagler as a top 5 fight either, for a few of the same reasons. Two amazing fighters, but they fought too late, and the result was unsatisfying. It was an OK contest not without some interest (especially strategically, leading to debate about how to score a round, etc.), but it still falls way short of many other fights that were better.

[Anthony342]

Agreed, Mayweather waited out Pacquiao, just like Leonard waited for Hagler to be past prime. Leonard even admits to it, punk move IMO.

[BKM-]

Not even close, for me anyway.

Mayweather/Pacquaio doesn't rank as a top 5 or even top 20 win all time for me, nor does it (I think) for most people.

"top 5 win" suggests something seismic, eye-opening. It suggests two different world views clashing at the height of vitality. It suggests something people will be talking about for decades, saying "that was awesome." It suggests a result that was surprising or impressive in some way.

For example, you listed Ali/Frazier I. Well hell yeah. An incredible fight, and an incredible win for Frazier for many, many reasons. We could spend all day on here talking about it. Top 5 fights are huge; movies are made about them, etc.

Mayweather/Pacquaio was lackluster. When people talk about it, they all say it sucked -- especially in comparison to expectations. We all know the fight should have happened at least 3 years earlier.

Another example: I wouldn't rank Leonard/Hagler as a top 5 fight either, for a few of the same reasons. Two amazing fighters, but they fought too late, and the result was unsatisfying. It was an OK contest not without some interest (especially strategically, leading to debate about how to score a round, etc.), but it still falls way short of many other fights that were better.

Well that didn't touch on my main arguments, which I believe are all more important than the excitement level of the fight. This was more of an enjoyment for people who really understand a chess game in pugilism which it was, not so much for the buzzed casuals who want to see blood and violence.

I agree that it could have been better if they had fought earlier, but that doesn't completely discredit it. Because like I said these two guys were still far ahead of everyone else(top 3 P4P) and not that far removed from their primes, and the two best of their generation. I'd say it's rather rare that the p4p two best of an era happen to be in the same weight class so that they can fight in order to determine who is the best, which is what we got in the end.

[The Old LefHook]

Mayweather/Pacquiao was not a top 1000 victory in boxing history. There was no accomplishement whatsoever in letting the viability of the fight expire before accepting it.

Leonard has much more excuse. He was not continuously active during the period before he fought Hagler. He had to come back from quite a stretch of inactivity. Mayweather and Pacquiao have both been continuously in action for at least fifteen years, and there was a huge call for this fight for at least nine years before it happened, which was prevented from fruition by Mayweather for one reason--he fears risk. Case closed. It works great and he will live a fine life never wanting for anything except a better legacy. History does not accept him as its boxing prince, he was too spineless. In no division is he the greatest fighter who ever lived, for there are very few foolish evenough to judge him so. He is already not remembered as reverently as he would have liked. His revenge was making lots of money.