IN DEPTH Comparison of Mayweather vs Pacquiao's resume, more similar than you think

[Cardinal Buck]

Corrales is getting criminally underrated here. The man was an absolute beast at 130. He had scary size and power. Barerra was very good, but his ceiling was pretty much known after the Junior Jones and Morales fights. The comparison is legit.

Also, Pac's loses and "wins" against Marquez downgrade his resume in my book.

[them_apples]

Let's compare each of their resumes, win by win, side by side, as you'll see it's very similar. Not necessarily in order, but I matched the opponents to show the similarities

Floyd Mayweather--------------------------Manny Pacquiao

Diego Corrales: A--------------------------Marco Antonio Barrera: A

Undoubtedly the tops wins of their careers. Both Mayweather and Pacquiao were underdogs, only one of two times Mayweather was an underdog in his career. Barrera is more of an ATG, but Corrales was more prime, undefeated, and had a major size advantage. Overall, the two wins are equal imo.


Jose Luis Castillio: A- -----------------------Erik Morales: B+

Both these wins are similar in that Pacquiao lost the first fight to Morales, while most people thought Floyd lost the first fight to Castillo. Overall, I think the advantage goes to Mayweather here. Castillo was the Ring #1 LW, and this was Mayweather's first fight at LW. Morales is a bigger name, but Castillo was no doubt more prime. Mayweather gave Castillo an immediate rematch and won. Pacquiao beat Morales only after he had lost to Raheem.

Shane Mosley: A- ---------------------Miguel Cotto: A-

Mosley was the Ring #1 WW at the time, whereas Cotto was not. However, Pacquiao was going for a record 7th title and 7 weight classes. Overall these wins are about equal.

Genaro Hernandez: B+ ---------------------------- Ledwaba: B+

These wins are very similar. Hernandez was Ring #1 Super Featherweight, and Mayweather was an underdog going for his first title at age 21. Pacquiao was also an underdog to Ledwaba, going for a Super Bantamweight title at age 23. Both these wins made them P4P contenders. I think Hernandez was a slightly better opponent, but for the most part equal


Juan Manuel Marquez: B ----------------------Juan Manuel Marquez: B

I know most people probably give Pacquiao more credit than Mayweather for Marquez. But I think it is ridiculous to say Marquez is a better "win" for Pacquiao, considering Pacquaio has yet to convincingly beat Marquez in 3 tries over 8 years, while Mayweather gave Marquez one of the most lopsided losses ever. If you give Pacquiao credit for beating Marquez, you have to give Mayweather equally as much if not more. If you don't give Mayweather credit, you can't give Pacquiao credit either. So I consider these wins equal.

Oscar De La Hoya: B+ ------------------------ Oscar De La Hoya: B

Pacquiao's win over De La Hoya was seen as the more impressive due to him being an underdog, but Mayweather clearly beat the better version of De La Hoya, no queston. So I give a slight edge to Mayweather.

Ricky Hatton: B+ ------------------------------ Ricky Hatton: B+

Mayweather beat an undefeated and more prime Ricky Hatton, but Pacquiao beat Hatton at his best weight class more impressively. So both are about even in my book.

Victor Ortiz: B- -------------------------------- Jorge Solis: B-

Carlos Baldomir: C+ --------------------------- David Diaz: C+

Zab Judah: C+ ------------------------------- Joshua Clottey: C+

Arturo Gatti: C ------------------------------- Antonio Margarito: C+

You can argue rankings and grades, but I don't see how you can look at that and say their resumes aren't pretty much equal.

If you look at title defenses, you'll see they're very similar as well.

And by my count, Mayweather has beaten 5 opponents who were Ring #1 champions at the time (6 if you count Hatton), and Pacquiao has 3.

And that is just looking at wins. I know some people don't look at losses, but I think you have to, otherwise ODLH would be the GOAT and Jermain Taylor and Ricardo Mayorga would be ATGs.

Overall, Pacquiao has the slightly bigger names, but Mayweather's opponents were more prime and better champions when he faced them. I just don't see how you can clearly say Manny's is better.

I'd rate Mayweather win vs Oscar as an A-. Oscar much bigger when May fought him and called all the shots. Pacquiao fought a weaker version and thus dominated him.

Barrera is an A+ win. He's better than Corrales. Barrera is an ATG, and contrary to popular belief, I believe he was prime.

I wanna say Margarito is at least a b- win as well. Gatti would have been smashed even worse than what May did if he fought Pac.