April 29, 2013
As Floyd Mayweather Jr. prepares to enter the professional boxing ring for the 44th time in his career this Saturday with a record yet to be blemished, comparisons to all-time great fighters are rampant in the media. An undefeated record is often enough for a casual fight fan to throw around greatness comparisons, and with a larger than life personality matched only by that of a prime Muhammad Ali, Mayweather is often placed upon a pedestal reserved for the greatest fighters in boxing history. The casual fan could easily be forgiven for such ignorance, but boxing’s media should know better.
The consensus greatest fighter of all-time in most legitimate boxing circles, the late Sugar Ray Robinson, holds a record of 128 wins with 84 knockouts against a lone defeat. It is true that knockout percentage does not make a fighter, and Mayweather’s lack of power should not lower his rank. On the contrary, it should raise it as Mayweather has dominated his opponents, who often possess a sound power advantage over him, over a longer period of rounds than would otherwise be the case by ending his fights early with knockouts. However, the significant differences between Robinson’s record and Mayweather’s 43-0 mark is in both activity and quality of opposition.
Robinson fought as often as every month for many years of his career. To be fair and put this in perspective, that is a feat not possible in today’s boxing climate. The build-up of fights in the media as well as the increasing costs of putting on a show complete with undercard in today’s much more expensive venues does not allow for that type of frequency among top fighters; the days of small ballrooms and auditoriums as major fight venues are no more. However, Mayweather has fought only seven times in the past seven years, all the while maintaining a consensus No. 1 or No. 2 pound-for-pound ranking (save for his “retirement”). The difference in activity here is so stark that it is beyond comparison even when taking in to account the different time periods; Mayweather’s activity may be enough to hold a world ranking in the current boxing atmosphere, but all-time greatness calls for much more.
In addition to fighting nearly every month, Robinson, a natural welterweight, conquered both the welterweight and middleweight divisions, moving up not only to fight bigger fighters, but great bigger fighters. Robinson would often give up as much as 20 pounds to his opponents, yet consistently faced greats like Jake LaMotta (whom he fought an unprecedented six times, winning five) and Carmen Basilio, each when they were in the prime of their hall of fame careers and at their comfortable middleweight division. Mayweather simply does not take such risks.
Mayweather’s highest profile career victory to date came against Oscar De La Hoya in 2007. De La Hoya is a future hall of famer in his own right, however, by the time Mayweather got to him, he was already well past his prime and just a couple of fights away from getting obliterated into retirement by Manny Pacquiao. And still, Mayweather only won a close split decision over him, a far cry from Robinson’s emphatic, career-defining 13th round knockout of Jake LaMotta, a man known for an iron chin, in their sixth and final fight. Mayweather faced future hall of famer Juan Manuel Marquez in 2008 and dominated him, yet the win was marred by the fact that Marquez was jumping up two weight classes to face Mayweather, gave up 17 pounds to him on fight night and still avoided a knockout. As previously stated, knockout power does not define a fighter, but the truly great ones can finish when given such advantages as Mayweather was; Robinson knocked out LaMotta as the smaller fighter.
Mayweather’s career is not without significant impressive wins that do not have asterisks next to them in the eyes of boxing historians. His dominant five knockdown 10th round stoppage win over the late and previously undefeated Diego Corrales, who was arguably in his prime at the time of the fight is a prime example and to many, stands as his greatest victory. However, such wins are few and far between for Mayweather, with his more recent wins ranging from over matched opponents like the late Arturo Gatti and one-hit-wonder Carlos Baldomir to over-the-hill former greats like Shane Mosley to squeakers against fighters he should have dominated such as Jose Luis Castillo and Miguel Cotto.
The ability to jump weight classes also is a common qualifier for greatness, and Mayweather has done just that, winning titles from super featherweight to light middleweight. What makes weight class jumping so impressive, however, is the idea of a smaller fighter beating a bigger fighter because of superiority in overall skills. While Mayweather always wins because of his skills, he did not give up weight in the same way that Robinson did when jumping up; he merely grew into the weight classes as he began his career at the young age of 19 and was still filling out as he moved up the ranks.
Perhaps comparisons to Robinson are not even fair to Mayweather as their fighting eras are so vastly different. However, it is Robinson’s legacy that has come to define all-time greatness and the current pound-for-pound ranking system, and other all-time greats have had to adhere to the same qualities as Robinson to some degree to earn their stripes: quality of opposition coupled with dominance and activity regardless of weight.
A lesser fighter than Robinson who is still considered to be an all-time great is Roberto Duran. Duran lost 16 times in his career, yet is widely considered to be one of the greatest of all time. This has a lot to do with the Robinson factor in terms of the qualities that make up his legacy: Duran was one of the most dominant lightweight fighters of all-time, yet moved up several weight classes throughout his later career to challenge himself with bigger and better fights. He fought all of the best fighters of his generation, from Sugar Ray Leonard to Marvelous Marvin Hagler, in the primes of their careers, sometimes winning and sometimes losing, but always giving a good account of himself and never avoiding any fighters. Duran was steadfast in attempting to move his career up the achievement ladder.
Mayweather has also faced a large majority of the best fighters of his generation. Many, however, were well past their primes. There are two major factors that will forever haunt Mayweather’s legacy, the first of which being the fact that Mayweather continually turned down huge money offers to fight dangerous welterweight threat Antonio Margarito at a time when Margarito was favored by many to beat Mayweather. He blatantly avoided the fight. Secondly, the lack of a Pacquiao fight in Mayweather’s career (largely due to consistent balking by the fighters until Pacquiao’s ring presence deteriorated) will forever tarnish Mayweather as a fighter who never proved himself against the best of his generation. The same certainly can’t be said of Duran, Hagler, Leonard or Thomas Hearns, who all fought each other at or close to their primes.
Mayweather is unquestionable one of the greatest talents in the history of boxing and would give any all-time great a hell with his supreme skills and near flawless defensive wizardry. However, it takes more than talent to be an all-time great. Quality of opposition, activity and overall fearlessness in terms of career decisions make for a gaping hole in Mayweather’s otherwise impenetrable defense.
