In this conversation with FightHype, Floyd Mayweather gives his take on how fans and reporters come up with with their all-time rankings and why there’s often double-standards in how they make their evaluations, not to mention there often being a lack of knowledge or context behind them. Check out some excerpts below...
“It was crazy that someone sent me something about the best welterweights (of all time). They had Sugar Ray Leonard #1. And I said this before, he was a guy that paved the way for myself but how can you have a guy that’s ranked #1 when his first loss was to a lightweight, which was Roberto Duran.
“And then they also talked about me facing (Juan Manuel) Marquez which was at a catchweight, 144. But this same guy, Marquez, who knocked out the #3 welterweight — they had Pacquiao ranked #3 at welterweight, but he got knocked out by Marquez. They try to say that, basically, (Marquez) was too small for me but he wasn’t too small for Pacquiao. So it’s crazy how all these ratings go nowadays.
“Sometimes when I speak, I speak from the heart and I speak the truth, and sometimes people feel like speaking the truth is arrogant or cocky. I just speak from the heart, and I don’t knock no fighter, I just speak fact. Whereas you see a lot of fighters had to have a hundred-something fights and they say ‘yeah he’s great because he had 109-4 (record).’ But in that 109-4 he could’ve had 80 knockouts, but who did he beat in those fights? If I accomplished more than he accomplished in 50 fights then, you know, I mean, he was working harder and I was working smarter. It’s always about working smarter.
“...like when I fought, may he rest in peace, Genaro Hernandez when I was 21 and I think he was like 31 or 32 when I fought him. They said that he had too much experience for me, but then when I win the fight they say he was over the hill. But then when I fought Canelo — and Canelo was I don’t know how many years younger than I was — they say he was inexperienced but we had the same amount of fights, and I was deep in my 30s and he was in his youthful years, he was in his early 20s...to speak about boxing you really gotta know what you’re talking about.
“When I faced Shane (Mosley) I think we both were in our 30s, I think we was five years apart and me and Oscar was four years apart...When I fought Shane, Shane came off his biggest win against Antonio Margarito, that was his biggest win. Then when I beat him they say — I fought him right after that — they say ‘you know what, he’s washed up.’
“I’m not knocking these fighters I’m just letting you know what goes on in the sport of boxing, about people knowing the sport and people not knowing the sport.