The way people talk

[amat]

For me its not really the case of fighting smaller men, its the fact he has been coasting against safe opponents since his scare with Castillo.

Instead of fighting Dorin or Spadafora he chose Sosa & Ndou

Instead of fighting Tszyu, Cotto or Hatton he chose Corley, Bruseles & Gatti

Instead of fighting Margarito, Mosley or Cintron he chose Mitchell, Judah & Baldomir

Then he took the money fights: DLH & Hatton, nothing wrong with that. But then instead of defending his championship against Cotto or Margarito he chose to retire.

Only to comeback against a lightweight, when guys like Cotto & Mosley reigned in the division.

He took the path of least resistance

If he fights the Pacquioa/ Cotto winner & then the Mosley/ Berto winner all can be forgiven. If he doesn't his legacy will always be questioned!

I do agree with you that PBF has taken the path of least resistance. And it is preposterous to say PBF fights smaller guys when he was normally the smaller guy in a lot of his fights. But in all fairness PBF's path of least resistance is really only in welterweight. And all the fights that weren't made can not be blamed totally on PBF. Thats one sided. PBF and Tsyzu was only possibly going to get made because PBF contacted Tsyzu about it before the Hatton fight. Hatton ruined that possible fight. Cotto never pushed for a PBF fight and PBF wanted to set the fight up after fighting Cotto's stablemate, Bruseles. PBF cleaned out 130, beat the king of the 135's and the top two 140's. Even though Judah and Hatton fought PBF at 147 it would be just a flimsy excuse to say PBF was too big or had an unfair advantage at 147 instead of 140. Would the fights really have been different when PBF is the naturally smaller guy? Dorin, Spadafora, and Cintron are lesser fighters than many of the fighter PBF demolished. He can't fight them all No fighter fights everybody at every weight class. And his comeback fight against JMM is his first in 2 years. I'd rather have that tune up than a 147 pound Joe Blow. I am not liking PBF's selection at 147 in totality. If PBF doesn't fight Cotto or Mosley then he deserves to be ridiculed for his welterweight run.

Doesn't end up mattering who's to blame for opponent choice.. Floyd's fight record is the only thing in the end that reflects the opposition he's beaten, and the opposition he didn't fight...

He's fought for money and has been a completely success in that respect... If he's fighting for legacy and A.T.G status then he can do more... There are fighters with less talent out there that are more determined to carve out a legacy...
Not that I don't think money is an honourable guiding principle of a boxing career, but it's the contrast between that and the mexican foreign fighters why I love those guys so much.. Guys that in post fight interviews say "I'm just glad to be fighting, i'll fight whoever is in front of me, and the rest is up to my promotion and management..." When the fighters are wrapped up in the politics, that is what puts a stain on boxing I feel... Boxers should have their head down and focused on fights with whoever gets put in front of them... That's the spirit that built boxing, and that is the spirit that will make it live on...
The more politics that gets between fights and prevents the logical, wanted fights from happening, the weaker boxing becomes...

I know it's a bit off topic, but what can be taken from that is Floyd is his own undoing when it comes to his critics... There is just a gap between what critics want from a true all time great, and what Floyd wants out of boxing... So there is always going to be drama right in the middle of that.

Good post but I'll just say, a lot of this stuff borders on nitpicking.

I mean really, you would have rather seen him in with Dorin then Ndou? Neither Dorin nor Spadafora had their shit sorted at the time, Dorin missed weight by like 5 pounds and retired right after he fought Spadafora. Spadafora....I don't need to explain. Ndou was a very tough opponent and notice how Floyd ramps his game up on this inside after the Castillo fights. It was a very entertaining fight, Mayweather-Ndou. That's really nitpicking.

Give him some time guys, he had every right to retire. There is a reason boxers retire so much, it's hard. Everyone is allowed a break. So he says he's the greatest, yeah he's trying to sell fights. It's not that hard to figure out. He doesn't have a country behind him like Pacquiao so he has to be brash. Of course we are allowed to hold this against him but it doesn't mean his opposition has been terrible. I mean even without fighting all those guys that's a pretty good resume.

I was IN FAVOR all along for him staying the course and fighting Zab Judah even though Judah lost to Carlos Baldomir. That was a mega-fight derailed, lost a lot of it's luster. Still, it was a big fight. As was Cotto-Judah and as was Clottey-Judah. All those bouts shouldn't be discredited.

Then, of course he fights Baldomir. Antonio Margarito had done NOTHING except cry about how he was avoided. Seriously, Margarito would have been seriously outboxed, comprehensively and then all of you would have been moaning about why he avoided Baldomir. Baldomir was the lineal champ and he eventually signed for MORE MONEY to fight Baldomir. Of course he was outclassed, a formality but it was a fight he HAD to take. I was also in favor of Baldomir over Margarito from very early on. What I was worried about was what if Gatti beat Baldomir (I predicted it) and then became the lineal (and maybe Ring?) champ at 147. Oh man, imagine a PBF-Gatti rematch? So that was the ONLY scenario in which I was in favor of Margarito getting a shot at Floyd.