Boxing great Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr. has been traveling around the U.K. trying to find more people gullible enough to believe he is the best fighter ever, or as the people who came up with his logo call it "TBE".
Mayweather's side of the story is this, "When we talk about these champions, legendary fighters, we talk about how they have 100 and something fights, 100 and something victories- but when you look at the history books I still beat more world champions than any fighter in history. I respect these fighters because these fighters are the fighters who paved the way for me to be where I'm at, but there's no fighter in boxing that accomplished what I accomplished at all. You can go back as far as you want to go back". Well this isn't going to be a long history lesson so let's just start with comparing him to another fighter from his own era, against arch rival Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao, the first and only fighter to win titles in eight different divisions, and is actually the first ever boxer to win Lineal Championships in five different weight classes (3 in the glamour divisions). By comparison Mayweather won four Lineal titles (2 in the glamour divisions). Now this is just in comparison to one fighter in his own era, and one who Mayweather maybe could have beat with both fighters still in their primes, but since the two didn't face off until "Pacman" was widely seen as being on the downside of his own historic career, that debate will always live on. Mayweather is seen by many boxing fans as an opportunist for the sake of money, not necessarily the sake of pride. Frankly, most traditional boxing fans love to see their fighters rise up and try to test themselves against fighters seen as a big threat or as in "The Greatest" Muhammad Ali's case their death sentence (ala George Foreman, Sonny Liston etc.). Not just against fighters that clearly aren't on their level in terms of talent or greatness, as in Robert Guerrero, Andre Berto, Victor Ortiz etc.
Now I am not here merely to bash an all time great, I am here to put things into perspective by making a comparison or two and if I took the time there are dozens more to make. In my opinion Mayweather is a top 50-75 pound for pound fighter and that is an accomplishment to be extremely proud of. But to travel around bashing other greats or discounting their careers as he was heard doing with Ali, Marciano, etc. and countering that with I am greater in other areas, "I'm the greatest businessman", doesn't quite argue his point as a great fighter but more like a great magician would do with their audiences... distract them from what is actual reality. And last but not least, maybe Mayweather could benefit from someone teaching him that there is no need to discount or bash others to show how great you are. If you are great then it will show and others will likely share that opinion. You don't have to tear down the competition to argue your point and to be honest, if you have to keep trying to talk people into believing you're "TBE" every time you speak, maybe you don't even believe it yourself. Ali said it you say? Yeah, then Ali did it.
By Steven Mccowan for Ringside Reporter
Follow me on Twitter @smccowan77
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