Someone needs to explain to me why Floyd doesn't deserve to be mentioned with ATGs

[Beanflicker]

Im not sure Hatton was a "great" fighter.

He was before Floyd got through with him. I remember him routinely showing up in lists of the greatest 140lbers of all time, showing up and sometimes topping names like Aaron Pryor, JCC, Tyszu, ect.

[ICB]

Im not sure Hatton was a "great" fighter.

He was before Floyd got through with him. I remember him routinely showing up in lists of the greatest 140lbers of all time, showing up and sometimes topping names like Aaron Pryor, JCC, Tyszu, ect.

Oh come on bro you know im a big Floyd Mayweather Jr fan, but Ricky Hatton was never a great fighter nowhere close to it. He was a good or very good fighter, but there's a big gap between very good and great.

[Beanflicker]

Oh come on bro you know im a big Floyd Mayweather Jr fan, but Ricky Hatton was never a great fighter nowhere close to it. He was a good or very good fighter, but there's a big gap between very good and great.

Oh I agree, very good but not great. I'm just relaying the consensus at the time.

Just pointing out that people will always diminish his wins. before the Hatton fight, it was "Oh finally Floyd is fighting another great, he has the style like Castillo, all you need to do is steady pressure Floyd and get him out of his comfort zone, ect ect."

Now its "well Ricky was never that good to begin with".

[Beanflicker]

Putting all the "who's era was tougher" or "who fought the better opposition" stuff aside, would any of you guys honestly pick a lot of these mentioned names against Floyd?

I think the only guy mentioned who can hang with him in the ring is a WW SRR.

Sure, SRL fought the better opposition. But putting Floyd up against guys like Duran, Benitez, and Sugar himself, do you honestly think these guys beat him? To be honest, I don't.

[ICB]

Putting all the "who's era was tougher" or "who fought the better opposition" stuff aside, would any of you guys honestly pick a lot of these mentioned names against Floyd?

I think the only guy mentioned who can hang with him in the ring is a WW SRR.

Sure, SRL fought the better opposition. But putting Floyd up against guys like Duran, Benitez, and Sugar himself, do you honestly think these guys beat him? To be honest, I don't.

Wilfredo Benitez in his prime before he got into the partying life style, would of gave Floyd Mayweather Jr fits. Roberto Duran would of beat him at Lightweight, and i'd pick SRL and Tommy Hearns over him at Welterweight.

[TitoFan]

I don't have a problem with Floyd being designated an ATG. But people get carried away with the comparisons. I invite people on here to obtain and watch SRL's fights against Duran, Hearns, Hagler, and Benitez. Only THEN can you pass judgement objectively. Those were glory days in boxing, and all of the above were ATGs as well. Floyd deserves the credit he's getting... but do some research before you annoint him The Greatest Ever in Boxing.

[Beanflicker]

I don't have a problem with Floyd being designated an ATG. But people get carried away with the comparisons. I invite people on here to obtain and watch SRL's fights against Duran, Hearns, Hagler, and Benitez. Only THEN can you pass judgement objectively. Those were glory days in boxing, and all of the above were ATGs as well. Floyd deserves the credit he's getting... but do some research before you annoint him The Greatest Ever in Boxing.

Well hell, I don't claim to be the #1 boxing historian out there, but I'm an avid collector of boxing tapes. I have career sets of just about everyone I've mentioned here (Hearns, Hagler, SRL, Duran, Pernell, Benitez, ect). I'm also a self-professed SRR FANATIC, and I think over the years I've seen just about every one of his fights that was filmed. So even though I'm not the most knowledgable guy here, I do my homework, and I'm not talking out of my ass with some fan boy Floyd nuthuggery.

All I'm saying is when I pop a Floyd fight into my DVD player, I see the same greatness that I see when I pop in the fights of other ATGs. When valuing a guy as a fighter, statistics and resume is fine, but at the end of the day it comes down to your in-ring work. And I contend that not only does Floyd match the in-ring work of a lot of these ATGs, he actually exceeds the vast majority of them.

Whenever I ask why Floyd doesn't belong in the same catagory with a guy like SRR, I always get the same answers...

"Well he ducked a bunch of guys."

Who did he duck? And pretty much every ATG (including SRR and SRL) has been accused of ducking someone or other.

"Well the old timers fought 100's of times, Floyd only fought 40 times."

Well, these guys fought before the time of multi-million dollar pay days. I doubt SRR fought several times a month because he wanted to. He was like Floyd, he was an arrogant master athlete who had a taste for fine living. Just because they had it "tougher" than today's greats does not mean necessarily that they were better.

"Those guys had better resumes than Floyd"

Maybe so. I would argue how guys like Jake LaMotta, Joey Archer and Bobo Olsen were better than guys like JLC, Hatton, Mosley, ect but thats for another thread I guess. But what is tough adversity good for other than exposing whether or not a fighter has the certain qualities that make for a champion? Qualities like heart, determination, toughness, mental composure, ability to take punishment, adapt, ect. Floyd has shown all of these qualities in battle, so what more can you ask of him?

[Beanflicker]

Wilfredo Benitez in his prime before he got into the partying life style, would of gave Floyd Mayweather Jr fits. Roberto Duran would of beat him at Lightweight, and i'd pick SRL and Tommy Hearns over him at Welterweight.

This is a rare time where I'm gonna have to disagree with ya, bro. I see SRL being outboxed by Floyd (hell, Tommy foxed him for most of the first fight and virtually all the second one). Tommy is a big threat to Floyd or anyone for that matter due to his power, speed and reach, but he's way too chinny for me to pick him against Floyd.

To be honest I see Floyd stopping Hearns in the later rounds, battering him with that lazer counter right.

[ICB]

Wilfredo Benitez in his prime before he got into the partying life style, would of gave Floyd Mayweather Jr fits. Roberto Duran would of beat him at Lightweight, and i'd pick SRL and Tommy Hearns over him at Welterweight.

This is a rare time where I'm gonna have to disagree with ya, bro. I see SRL being outboxed by Floyd (hell, Tommy foxed him for most of the first fight and virtually all the second one). Tommy is a big threat to Floyd or anyone for that matter due to his power, speed and reach, but he's way too chinny for me to pick him against Floyd.

To be honest I see Floyd stopping Hearns in the later rounds, battering him with that lazer counter right.

Tommy Hearns outboxed SRL because he's 6'1, with a ridiculous reach. He's probably one of the best Welterweights of all time. I mean really who the hell could outbox Tommy Hearns at Welterweight ?

SRL is amazing his speed is amazing, his footwork is amazing. He's naturally bigger than Floyd Mayweather Jr, and his power is pretty good aswell.

Tommy Hearns didn't have a weak chin at Welterweight, and there's no way he would come forward against Tommy Hearns. He would be outboxed over 12 rounds. Just like SRL would do to Floyd Mayweather Jr.

I think your going way over the top, just because he beat a Shane Mosley. Who has been battered by Vernon Forrest in the past, outboxed handily twice by Winky Wright, and looked less than impressive lately vs Cotto, Mayorga.

Was it a great performance ? yes but you need to just calm down, and realize what your saying. Just because he beat a 38 year old Shane Mosley, doesn't mean he beats Hearns, Leonard. Thats just crazy talk.

[Beanflicker]

I think your going way over the top, just because he beat a Shane Mosley. Who has been battered by Vernon Forrest in the past, outboxed handily twice by Winky Wright, and looked less than impressive lately vs Cotto, Mayorga.

Was it a great performance ? yes but you need to just calm down, and realize what your saying. Just because he beat a 38 year old Shane Mosley, doesn't mean he beats Hearns, Leonard. Thats just crazy talk.

This isn't sparked by the win over Mosley, which went pretty much as I expected it to sans the 2nd round. It was sparked more by the fact that Floyd was badly rocked (which he hasn't been in about 6 or 7 years) and instead of folding he showed a champion's composure. A lot of people question his heart, and I think that once again he showed that he is a tough guy when he needs to be.

Hearns is also an absolute SUCKER for a counter right hand.

[El Kabong]

Beanflicker....if Hearns caught Floyd like that there would have been no need to follow up.


I will say the main thing I was disappointed in is Floyd STILL never looks like he has been in a fight!!! I want his face busted up at least, an eye swole up, a big cut, a broken jaw....SOMETHING but nope he never gets dinged up. Those wobbles were satisfying to watch though....and that is sad.