Here is the problem. And I've said this before. If we take every champion, single division, multiple division and play the devil's advocate, we can downplay their resume, all of them. That's not realistic. We know every fighter has fought fighters before their prime, during their prime, after their prime, lost to club fighters, stopped by underdogs, didn't fight every single top fighter, or died in their prime. Just downplaying their resume is not realistic. So what do you do?
Again, if we were to list all of the champions in the last 20 years as an example, and use all the criteria above, every fighter will have gone through a career similar to those experiences. How many were never knocked out? Now list all the criteria above against 50 of the very best fighters and if you are realistic, you will see what I am getting at soon. The point is not to picky nit every single resume, but to see how all of them stack up next to each other.
I've seen fighters, even great fighters come after the time Floyd was a champion and retire well before Floyd did. I've seen fighters get knocked cold, my favorite fighters. I've seen great fighters lose to fighters they should not have lost to. And you know what, I've seen fans who swore that Floyd was ducking a fighter only to have Floyd fight that fighter in his next fight, a few of them actually. I've seen guys who predicted Floyd's opponents would knock him out. That didnt happen.
Now, lets focus that list down to the fighters who were in the divisions Floyd fought in. Floyd proved he was the best. That makes him the best 130/135/140/147 pound fighter in each of those divisions in each portion of an era that he occupied them. Who in those divisions in those sections of those eras were factually better than Floyd? None. He was the best. I dont need to like every single thing about a fighter to know what is real when I see it. I've been following boxing for over 25 years and watching Floyd melt an opponents best weapons time and again and again and again is the reality of what I witnessed. He was not only the best of each of those divisions and each of those portions of eras which means THE era of the last 20 years but now stack him against all eras and you have a guy that that ranks pretty damn high against all eras. Accomplishments within his era and compared to other eras leaves you with a guy who is seriously up there. I have no doubt he is one of the top 20 men that ever laced on a pair of gloves. Again, count the wins, the titles, the losses, who a fighter lost to, how he lost, and compare that to Floyd's accomplishments and name someone from the last 20 years who bested what Floyd did. There is no one. If anyone would like, go ahead, stack those resumes up against each other. Pac is close, but he was knocked out a number of times and that cannot be counted as a plus. There is a deduction for getting knocked out...it is not a neutral factor.
Again, if we were to list all of the champions in the last 20 years as an example, and use all the criteria above, every fighter will have gone through a career similar to those experiences. How many were never knocked out? Now list all the criteria above against 50 of the very best fighters and if you are realistic, you will see what I am getting at soon. The point is not to picky nit every single resume, but to see how all of them stack up next to each other.
I've seen fighters, even great fighters come after the time Floyd was a champion and retire well before Floyd did. I've seen fighters get knocked cold, my favorite fighters. I've seen great fighters lose to fighters they should not have lost to. And you know what, I've seen fans who swore that Floyd was ducking a fighter only to have Floyd fight that fighter in his next fight, a few of them actually. I've seen guys who predicted Floyd's opponents would knock him out. That didnt happen.
Now, lets focus that list down to the fighters who were in the divisions Floyd fought in. Floyd proved he was the best. That makes him the best 130/135/140/147 pound fighter in each of those divisions in each portion of an era that he occupied them. Who in those divisions in those sections of those eras were factually better than Floyd? None. He was the best. I dont need to like every single thing about a fighter to know what is real when I see it. I've been following boxing for over 25 years and watching Floyd melt an opponents best weapons time and again and again and again is the reality of what I witnessed. He was not only the best of each of those divisions and each of those portions of eras which means THE era of the last 20 years but now stack him against all eras and you have a guy that that ranks pretty damn high against all eras. Accomplishments within his era and compared to other eras leaves you with a guy who is seriously up there. I have no doubt he is one of the top 20 men that ever laced on a pair of gloves. Again, count the wins, the titles, the losses, who a fighter lost to, how he lost, and compare that to Floyd's accomplishments and name someone from the last 20 years who bested what Floyd did. There is no one. If anyone would like, go ahead, stack those resumes up against each other. Pac is close, but he was knocked out a number of times and that cannot be counted as a plus. There is a deduction for getting knocked out...it is not a neutral factor.
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