Floyd Mayweather Jr. - The Greatest of All Time?

Question

He says when it's all said and done he'll be the best boxer ever. Match him against these all time greats at each weight class PBF has won a world title at. Who wins?

Super featherweight - Alexis Arguello

Lightweight - Roberto Duran

Jr. Welterweight - Aaron Pryor

Welterweight - Sugar Ray Robinson

Jr. Middleweight - Tommy Hearns

All these men were champions at each weight division listed.

How does PBF do against each?

Answer 1

This is the weirdest question and comparison ever. He is in the top 50 of all time. his most dominating win was against coralles 5 years ago. he can say all he wants until he beats manny paciou, cotto, and all the other greats of this era, he can not even begin to call himself the best. the one thing about the 5 you mention is that they all have been defeated and bounced back from it. lets eliminate the division and say welterweights period. in that case i will give him number 9 of all time welterweights. behind sugar ray, kid gavlin, sugar ray leonard,emile grifith,henry armstron,kotsa tzu,duran, and aaron pryor

Answer 2

ok first of all once he hits the welterweight level against ray robinson he will $hit himself and be a B**** and wont fight him just like how he wont fight antonio margarito and miguel cotto so it wouldnt be a match against robinson cuz ray will knock his punk @ss out

Answer 3

By no means is Floyd Mayweather the Greatest of All time. However he is one of the greatest fighters of this era 1998 -2007. Comparing him to the golden age of the welterweight divison he is nothing more than a Contender that puts up a good fight but not the best. I really think that people spend more time crying about who he isnt fighting insted of giving credit for who he has fought. He has beat some Top Notch fighters.

1998 and 2007 fighter of the year

World Champion at 21

Five Divison Champion

Six Time World Champion

20 world title fights

Ten Years world Champion

P4P one of the Best of our Era

HE ISNT BETTER THAN THE GUYS YOU NAMED BUT LETS NOT USE THAT TO DISCRIDIT WHAT HE HAS DONE. IF RING MAGAZINE HAD A 100 GREATEST FIGTHERS OF ALL TIME LIST THAT CAME OUT TODAY HE SHOULD MAKE IT

Answer 4

Listen to the man above me, he knows what he is talking about,

As far as Mayweather being the greatest, i would say only MAYBE at 130, No way in h**l in any other weight class

also he doesnt have that CHAMPION mentallity you know fighting anyone, making it well known hes the best........

only words that come out of his mouth is

"IF THE MONEY IS RIGHT"

Answer 5

I think Pretty Boy Floyd would beat Alexis Arguello at 130 lbs.  He's a better boxer and Alexis never could fight classy boxers especially with his punching ability.  PBF by late stoppage.

Roberto Duran by unanimous decision.

Aaron Pryor by unanimous decision.

Sugar Ray Leonard by Knockout.

Thomas Hearns by Knockout.

Beating a great fighter in one division is hard but in five consecutive divisions and especially the talent of these individuals that would be a hard call. Fighting one of these guys I would say would be a close call for Floyd Mayweather but all five fighters.  Impossible.

I would have liked to have seen how he would have come up against Wilfredo Benitez.  Wilfredo wins a decision at Junior Welterweight

Answer 6

Thumbs up to Woody, I cannot improve on his answer, only agree with most of it.  I however would give Alexis Arguello a better than even chance at beating Floyd as well.  I don't think Floyd Mayweather measures up well against any of the all time greats you mentioned.

Answer 7

mayweather is the best

Answer 8

I have to say that Woody's answer is spot on.

One of the best answers I have seen on this forum regarding these premature comparisons between PBF and past legends.

When you choose money over greatness....you find out that money doesn't buy you EVERYTHING.  PBF will be rich, but he will also not be so significant when judged in a historical context.  He will be relegated to a list of commercially successful guys that were unwilling to test their limits.

You can't be jugded on potential......prove that the praise is warranted.

Good job Woody.

Answer 9

Good question Brent.

Vs Arguello at Super featherweight.  Arguello has a big advantage in power but Mayweather Jr. has faster hands.  Arguello would look to cut off the ring and would be able to do just that and catches Mayweather Jr landing a big right hand.  A wobbly Mayweather is saved from further punishment by the referee in round 11.

Vs Duran at lightweight.  Duran was the best ever in my opinion at this weight.  He was fast, very strong, and punched very hard.  Despite Mayweather Jr's speed, he would be in trouble from the beginning till the end which would come by tech knockout in round 10

Vs Pryor at Jr Welter.  Pryor is the aggressive non stop punching machine.  He would pursue Mayweather and catch him with a brutal assault in round 9 winning by knockout.

Vs Sugar Ray Robinson at welterweight.  Robinson was the greatest fighter of all time in my opinion and at welterweight was unbelievable.  Robinson would knock him out in 6 rounds.

Vs Hearns at Jr. Middleweight.  The size difference is evident and Hearns would land that big right hand of his in about the 5th round.  Hearns by technical knockout.

Mayweather Jr has never fought anyone in his career that compares to these fighters.  I will give him credit for being talented and skilled against some pretty good fighters but I really feel that every one of these guys would beat him.  He could possibly outpoint Arguello but I doubt it.

Answer 10

Mayweather couldnt beat Ivan "Iron Boy" calderon if he fought at featherweight and had 20 pounds on him mayweather is a very very very skilled boxer but hes no CALDERON ITS A SHAME CALDERON DONT GET HIS JUST DUE and its a shame CALDERON wish's he had more competitve cmp. but cnt get it and floyd avoids it at all cost

Answer 11

Floyd Mayweather is the most over rated boxer of all time

Answer 12

mayweather is the best at what he does...

lean-back, duck, hug and run.

a disgrace to boxing.

Answer 13

FLOYD has to be considered as one of the greatest fighters of all time if not the greatest. look at the level of competition he's fought and by the wide margin he defeats CHAMPIONS. look at calzaghe undefeated against bums, hatton WAS undefeated against bums, pavlik is undefeated against bums(1 tough fight), look at floyd's technique, his speed, defense, ring smarts, the most accurate punching fighter in history since compubox began keeping record, his descent knockout percentag(25 ko's, 13 in which came in 5 rounds or less) the only fighter in history to defeat the champions in 6 different weight classes, and the current holder of 5 belts. come on guys....is this gonna be one of those things where we have to wait til a guy is long gone before he gets his credit?

Answer 14

Nope... he looked stupid in Wrestlemania

Answer 15

I don't know about those other guys, but I'm sure he'd kick your a$$.

Answer 16

Mayweather could not beat a single person on that list, and would get destroyed by most of them.

Answer 17

I laugh everytime something is said about Mayweather being the absolute greatest of all time, especially when it comes out his mouth. The men you listed above have well over 60 fights (except Pryor) and fought any and everyone who was thrown into the ring with them. Mayweather picks and chooses his opponents based on what they can do for him financially, so how can he make that claim to his legacy, when he chooses not to fight EVERYONE around him. Paul Williams, Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley and many more are all around him now, yet he chooses not to fight them because they don't bring anything to the table financially or because their resume doesn't impress him. SO WHAT?! If he wants to seriously give use the impression that he is or will be undisputedly the greatest, then he should go ahead and wipe out those in his division, instead of not adding those fighters to his victims-list. All he is doing is going after fighters that he has already beaten (De La Hoya and Hatton), which wouldn't prove nothing more, if he beats them, rather then go after new challenges.

Anyway, I honestly feel that all the men listed above would take Mayweather, except for  MAYBE Alexis Arguello. Arguello has power, but I didn't see him being aggressive enough to my liking to land anything significant against Mayweather. I see Mayweather outpointing Arguello.

And the way Aaron Pryor comes charging out after opening bell, you'd think his opponent was rocked and wobbled during the ring entrance and stare down. I can't really see Mayweather enduring that kind of aggression for an entire fight.

Answer 18

He is not the greatest of all time. The only person on that list he can beat is Alexis Arguello. Thomas Hearns will KO him. Sugar Ray Robinson will beat him up badly. He might get a draw with Aaron Pryor. Roberto Duran will slow him down with bodyshots and stop him late like Julio Ceasar Chavez did to Meldrick Taylor.

Answer 19

Tommy Hearns would hit PBF so hard that his eyes would roll into the back of his head and he would start uncontrollably vomiting and drooling.  There is no fighter PBF has faced that has been good enough to even judge him against such greats.  Roberto Duran is like Ricky Hatton times 10.