| Baalzamon said: Hasn't been known for quite some time that Mayweather has specifically picked fighters that are either past their prime, or simply not as good? This isn't saying the guy isn't a great fighter...after all, even beating the people he has beaten time and time again is an accomplishment. |
Well, to be quite honest, most of the people saying that are just repeating forum posts by other people who are just repeating forum posts. You ask most of these people for a detailed argument and it quickly becomes clear that they have no idea what they're talking about.
The other part of this is that all boxers take the fight which will benefit them the most. Floyd Mayweather got dodged when he was an up and coming fighter. It's not like he just invented the idea of picking your fight. And, honestly, what Mayweather has done most of his career is go after fights with the most exposure and money on the line.
The funny thing to me is that people will say, "ah but he didn't fight X until after X got beat." What does that even mean? How is he supposed to know that they're going to lose? Whichever fight he picks, someone says he should have fought someone else. I've even seen people accuse him to dodging guys who aren't even in his weight class.
Seriously, the Pacquiao controversy aside, who has he dodged? 95% of the people who make that claim cannot answer that question.
As far as the claim that he hasn't beaten anyone, that's simply not true. Let's look at a few:
#1-ranked super featherweight Genaro Hernández
#1-ranked super featherweight and undefeated Diego Corrales
future IBF super featherweight titleholder Carlos Hernández
future super featherweight and lightweight titleholder Jesús Chávez (top-ranked contender)
World Boxing Council (WBC) champion and The Ring #1-ranked lightweight José Luis Castillo
Rematch against Castillo
#1-ranked contender Arturo Gatti
IBF welterweight titleholder Zab Judah, who actually held three more titles when the fight was made, but Judah lost to Baldomir
WBC and The Ring welterweight titleholder Carlos Baldomir
WBC light-middleweight titleholder Oscar De La Hoya (who actually held six belts at the time)
The Ring light welterweight champion and undefeated Ricky Hatton
The Ring lightweight champion and #2 pound-for-pound Juan Manuel Márquez
WBA super-welterweight titleholder and The Ring #3 pound-for-pound Shane Mosley
WBC welterweight champion and The Ring #2-ranked welterweight Victor Ortiz
WBA super welterweight champion and The Ring #1-ranked light middleweight Miguel Cotto
WBC interim welterweight champion, Ring No. 3 ranked welterweight, and the WBC's mandatory challenger Robert Guerrero
Ring No. 10 ranked pound for pound, WBC and WBA Super welterweight champion Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez
So, yeah, the idea that Mayweather hasn't fought anyone makes no sense. Only a few really big names on that list? Yeah, that's true, but that's the state of boxing now. Mayweather can't fight superstars who don't exist. I think Sugar Ray Leonard summed it up very well:
“Floyd deserves to be where he’s at right now. It’s not his fault that there isn’t a multitude of all-time greats around him – he has no control over that. When Sugar Ray Robinson was fighting or when I was fighting we had superstar competition, whereas Mayweather is just that bit better than the rest of the field. He also fights and performs from a business perspective and knows when there’s money to be made. The thing that really impressed me about Floyd was when Sugar Shane Mosley hurt him badly. He recovered so well, and dominated Shane for the rest of that fight. I know what to look for in fighters and champions and that one moment was very important. Mayweather could have competed in any era and that is a fact.” http://ringtv.craveonline.com/news/330935-exclusive-sugar-ray-leonard-talks-welterweight-division-ring-top-10
