I think it's pretty hypocritical to produce a list of 3-4 guys who Floyd never fought and say "look, he never fought these guys so there's too many question marks around his career to rank him".

Then, in the same breath, we bring up ye olde timers who fought in a time where we KNOW you didn't get your shot unless you agreed to play ball with the mob, we KNOW guys were discriminated against and missed their shots because of the colour of their skin, we KNOW that access to information was in the stone age compared to now so guys could easily be buried and never heard from if they weren't connected... and we talk like the old timers fought every threat they could have? If you believe that, you're living in a fantasy world and you don't know your boxing history.

Read Jake Lamotta's book. Read "Somebody Up There Likes Me" by Rocky Graziano. There was a PLETHORA of young, mean black fighters that nobody would touch - including connected black fighters like Sugar Ray Robinson.

Jake Lamotta himself said that a lot of these guys (some of whom Jake had to fight because he wouldn't play ball with the mob) would have handed the champions of the time their ass in the ring, but would never get the chance because they weren't connected and they weren't the right colour. For a guy who had been in the ring with the great SRR 6 times to say that, that carries some weight.

People don't want to hear shit like that thought. They want to put on their rose-coloured glasses and look back at the old days of boxing when men were men and they fought only the best competition, because they're undying love for boxing mandated that they never avoid anyone and never take an easy fight for the money.

It's pure idiocy.