In terms of talent and overall skills, Floyd Mayweather Jr. has no equal as far as active fighters are concerned. He has never tasted defeat in all of his 40 fights. Although undefeated records are often overrated, that's not the case with Mayweather. During his journey to become a multiple divisional champion, he fought and defeated other world champions, including the likes of Jose Luis Castillo, Diego Corrales, Genaro Hernandez, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Zab Judah, just to name a few.
Time and time again, Floyd Mayweather has made "easy work" of his opponents. In the case of Diego Corrales, he faced an undefeated boxer who had knocked out the majority of his opponents. At the time, many considered the then undefeated Corrales to be his toughest challenge and yet Mayweather made him look like an amateur en route to a KO victory. In fact, the only boxer who's ever come close to claiming a victory over Mayweather is Jose Luis Castillo in a bout that ended with Mayweather earning a controversial decision. Although some fans believe Castillo won that fight, the bout was still extremely close considering that Mayweather broke his hand very early in the fight. Mayweather, however, put all doubts to rest when he himself demanded an immediate rematch and easily dominated Castillo in the second fight.
As a super featherweight and lightweight, Mayweather's dominance was unquestioned as he packed the power to match his speed. Moving up in weight, he continued to cruise to easy decisions over champions in the jr. welterweight, welterweight and jr. middleweight division, and yet, for some reason, he still doesn't get the recognition that he feels he deserves. But why is that?
If you listen to Mayweather, he'll tell you that his race has everything to do with it. Being an African American, Mayweather feels as though he was not promoted as equally as fellow fighters of different races, particularly those that are of Latin decent. In a sport that's dominated by minorities, however, the recognition he's lacking has absolutely nothing to do with race. During his time in the lower weight classes, many of today's aging or retired fighters, like Shane Mosley, Felix Trinidad, Fernando Vargas, Roy Jones Jr. and Oscar De La Hoya, were still in their prime. Plus, smaller fighters like Erik Morales, Prince Naseem Hamed and Marco Antonio Barrera were going to war with each other and giving us entertaining bouts. While Mayweather was busy facing respectable, but lesser-known fighters like Justin Juuko, Emanuel Burton and Jesus Chavez, he was being overshadowed by many of his contemporaries at the time.
Not to mention, at welterweight, Floyd's resume is questionable at best. He easily defeated natural lightweights Sharmba Mitchell and Juan Manuel Marquez. He also defeated the erratic Zab Judah, a small welterweight who really belongs in the jr. welterweight division, as well as Ricky Hatton, who was also moving up in weight from the jr. welterweight division. In fact, the only legitimate, full-fledged welterweight he faced was the one-dimensional Carlos Baldomir. His best win recently may have been when he moved up yet again to face then jr. middleweight champion Oscar De La Hoya, who he beat via split decision. While those are solid wins and Mayweather should be given full credit for each of them, his credibility will certainly be questioned, as it has, when he claims to be the best in the division, but has yet to face any of the elite fighters in the division, like Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito or Joshua Clottey.
Meanwhile, as all of this went on, we slowly saw the emergence of a rising star from the Pacific named Manny Pacquiao. By the time Mayweather had finally reached the pinnacle of the sport and began to get the recognition he's sought, he decided to retire. His absence allowed Pacquiao to surface as a superstar, surpassing all challenges and expectations placed before him. With his dynamic and crowd-pleasing performances, Pacquiao has arguably become more popular than Mayweather. While that might be due to Pacquiao's recent accomplishments rather than any of Mayweather shortcomings, what fans remember the most in fighters are their performances.
Also, Mayweather lacks that one career-defining fight. He's never been involved in a mega-fight brawl like Hagler vs. Hearns. He's never participated in memorable fights like Corrales vs. Castillo, Barrera vs. Morales or even Gatti vs. Ward. While it takes two to tango and all the blame doesn't necessarily lie with him, Mayweather has also made some questionable decisions in regards to challenging himself with the best in and around his division. After his fight with Hatton, there was great demand for him to face Miguel Cotto or Shane Mosley. There was also a young, but worthy potential opponent by the name of Paul Williams who was making a name for himself. When he finally made it to the top, instead of testing his skills against the best, Mayweather decided to retire after the Hatton fight. Had he chosen to fight the above mentioned fighters, there's no doubt that he would be one of the most respected boxers today. More importantly, had he beaten them all, it would have been very reasonable for someone to mention his name in the same class as Sugar Ray Robinson or Sugar Ray Leonard.
The biggest problem, however, is that Mayweather's attitude has made it difficult for fans to like him. His blatant arrogance and constant proclamation of being the best has made him a target for critics. Again, in sports, particularly boxing, it's all about what you have done lately; not what you have done in the past. Right now, all eyes are on Floyd Mayweather Jr. as people wonder what his next move will be. It's a decision that will not only decide whether or not he is a great fighter, but also where he ranks among the best in the history of the sport. It's all on you Floyd. If it's truly about the love of the sport, then give the fans a fight, a real fight, that they all want to see.
Source: http://fighthype.com/pages/content5802.html
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