Floyd Mayweather changed the sport of boxing over the course of 50 fights, beating the likes of Juan Manuel Marquez, Oscar De La Hoya, Saul ‘Canelo‘ Alvarez and Oscar De La Hoya.
The biggest pay-per-view star to ever grace the ring, Mayweather is regarded as perhaps the best defensive fighter whilst also being recorded as the most accurate puncher since CompuBox has been recording such stats.
To be great requires great opponents, and the multi-weight world champion had plenty of those.
For the best he faced, ‘Money’ reserves that sport for his dance partner in the ‘Battle for Greatness’ – Manny Pacquiao. He explained why on the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast.
“The best fighter I ever fought probably was Manny Pacquiao.
It’s because of his movement. He’s a hell of a fighter, and I can see why he won so many fights, and I can see why he’s going down as a Hall of Famer. It’s just certain moves he makes.”
It will come as no surprise to fans given the Filipino sensation will go down in history as one of the greatest fighters of all time. World champion in a modest eight divisions – the only man to ever come close to that – Pacquiao achieved 13 world-title wins and fought ten successful defences.
It’s largely agreed that Pacquiao was past his best when he went toe-to-toe with Mayweather in 2015, made more frustrating given the fight would have been as big as far back as 2009 when first attempted.
The American’s finely-tuned defence shone throughout the contest and he would win a unanimous decision with the scores of 116-112, 116-112 and 118-110 in Las Vegas.
Mayweather fought twice more – Andre Berto and Conor McGregor – to retire with a perfect 50-0 record. Pacquiao had seven more fights in which he would snatch two more welterweight titles. He is currently considering a comeback.
