Floyd Mayweather spent around a decade as the best active fighter in the world.
After making his professional debut as a 19-year-old in 1996, it didn’t take Mayweather long to first claim world honours, winning the WBC super-featherweight title in October 1998.
He would soon rise through the divisions, defeating fighters such as Jose Luis Castillo and Arturo Gatti, before finding a long-term home at 147lbs where he became the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world.
Mayweather claimed victories over fighters such as Manny Pacquiao, Shane Mosley and Juan Manuel Marquez at welterweight, whilst he also stepped up to 154lbs and secured wins against Oscar De La Hoya, Canelo Alvarez and Miguel Cotto to further establish his greatness.
By the time Mayweather finally retired in 2017, he had put together a perfect 50-0 record, becoming a five-weight world champion in the process.
After holding the honour himself for many years, Mayweather has now revealed who he deems to be the current best fighter in the world, telling Brian Mazique that it belongs to another man who has also dominated the welterweight division.
“I think Terence Crawford, right now in the sport of boxing, is the pound-for-pound best fighter. It’s good to see him in the position that he’s in … Terence Crawford, continue to be great.”
Crawford became undisputed welterweight champion in 2023 with a win over Errol Spence, after also managing to achieve that accolade at super-lightweight back in 2017.
He has claimed world honours at lightweight and super-welterweight too, and will look to become the first ever male fighter to be a three-weight undisputed champion when he makes an ambitious jump up to 168lbs to face undisputed super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez in September.
