After beating Manny Pacquiao last May 2014 and still having clean slate of 48-0 record, Via Nación ESPN on ESPN Deportes, Floyd Mayweather Jr. revealed his list of top 5 greatest boxers. On a video upload at Youtube, Mayweather counted off his top-five fighters of all time, and the list looks like this:
1. Floyd Mayweather
2. Roberto Duran
3. Pernell Whitaker
4. Julio Cesar Chavez
5. Muhammad Ali.
Mayweather, as critics would say, really thinks highly of himself. Now that he is on the verge of eclipsing Rocky Marciano's undefeated record, he more or less thought of himself as the best in history. But for some commentators, anybody ranking him as No. 1 would probably mean that he didn't watch much boxing before, say, 2000.
But in defense to himself choosing his own self as the number one boxing fighter in history, Mayweather gave his own reason for believing so, and referring to himself in third person, Mayweather reasoned out that;
"He's beaten more world champions than any other fighter right here. And he's done it in less fights than any other fighter up here. Record-breaking numbers all around the board, pay-per-view and live gate, the American champion added. Landed punches on the highest percentage, and took less punishment."
And for those reasons and of course the obvious debatable list Mayweather presented, critics and expert in the field gave their opinions as well.
For Des Bieler of The Washington Post questioned Mayweather's reasoning on Ali being ranked on the bottom, he wrote;
"What was Ali supposed to do, lose 50 pounds? It's far easier for, say, a lightweight to move up to welterweight, or even middleweight, especially given that athletes often add bulk as they get older."
Josh Katzowitz of Forbes Magazine on similar tone disagrees with Mayweather's perspective; arguing that;
"In truth, Mayweather doesn't deserve to be on this top-five list. So, in the end, Mayweather is probably wrong about most of these selections. Unless he was making a list about those who have competed since the mid-1960s."
