[Criteria: Fighter theoretically enters weight category of choice]
LIGHT-WELTERWEIGHT or JUNIOR-WELTERWEIGHT or SUPER-LIGHTWEIGHT 140 lbs: p1 Floyd Mayweather p3 Aaron Pryor p4 Terence Crawford p5 Oscar De la Hoya p6 Barney Ross p7 Pernell Whitaker p8 Jack Kid Berg p9 Ricky Hatton p9 Kostya Tszyu p10 Antonio Cervantez
[9.1] FLOYD MAYWEATHER 50(27)-0-0 [Light-Middleweight & Welterweight & Light-Welterweight & Lightweight & Super-Featherweight]: Floyd Mayweather junior - Sugar Ray Leonard - New York Daily News - Bob Arum - Harold Lederman - Inside Mayweather v Pacquiao TV - The Telegraph - The Ring online - The Rise & Reign of Floyd Mayweather 2020
I think my grandmother saw my potential first. When I was young I told her, ‘I think I should get a job.’ She said, ‘No, just keep boxing.’ Floyd Mayweather junior
Boxing is real easy. Life is much harder. Floyd Mayweather junior
I’ve had boxing gloves on since before I could walk and been in gyms all of my life. Floyd Mayweather junior
I always put my boxing first. Floyd Mayweather junior
There’s ups and downs with boxing; layoffs are part of the sport and they can either help or hurt a guy. Floyd Mayweather junior
I think I already proved that I wasn't just fighting for the money, because I fought as an amateur. I fought 90 fights for free. Floyd Mayweather junior
A true champion can adapt to anything. Floyd Mayweather junior
You’ve got to have a villain and they'll always make me a villain. I'm used to it – it makes me work harder and it makes me fight harder. Floyd Mayweather junior
Of all the fighters today, I have to say that Mayweather reminds me most of me. Sugar Ray Leonard
Mayweather is as close to Sugar Ray Robinson as this generation will see. He doesn’t have the single-punch KO power of Robinson, but he’s just as sweet. New York Daily News
We believe in our heart of hearts that Floyd Mayweather is the successor in a line that starts with Ray Robinson, goes to Muhammad Ali, then Sugar Ray Leonard ... We believe that he epitomizes that style of fighting. Bob Arum
Better than Sugar Ray Leonard. Bob Arum
I gotta tell ya, I’m terribly impressed. I don’t think I’ve seen an exhibition of boxing like this since Willie Pep. This kid is unbelievable: great legs, great speed, unbelievable ring-generalship. I mean he’s got tremendous presence in that ring. Floyd Mayweather knows where he is, every minute of this fight. Harold Lederman
‘When they say Floyd Mayweather, they say that’s an all-time great.’ Inside Mayweather v Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Sky Sports 2015
The history between Mayweather and Bob Arum is a long one. ibid.
He brought himself out of his contract with Arum. ibid.
Mayweather the master: When the dust settles, there will be no disputing that Mayweather is the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter of his generation. His victory over De la Hoya for the WBC light-middleweight crown was a triumph for the sweetest of skills. The Telegraph article Gareth A Davies
The Mayweather Touch: Floyd Mayweather junior is far more than a boxing genius. He is a marketing genius.
On September 14 he will face largely untested 23-year-old junior middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez. Despite Alvarez’s gruel-thin resume, the fight sold out in less than 24 hours, is already guaranteed to produce the largest gate in the history of Las Vegas boxing and is likely to be among the highest grossing pay-per-view shows in the sport’s history.
But will it be a fight?
Many people in boxing don’t think so but many who buy tickets don’t seem to care. How can this be?
‘(Mayweather) figured out a shtick and his shtick works,’ said Carl Moretti, the long-time boxing executive now working as Vice-President of Boxing Operations for Mayweather’s former promoter, Top Rank. ‘The Money Team works. Being the guy in the black hat in the opinion of a lot of fans works. People get into that.
‘Roy Jones was just as dominant and he never got this big. He didn’t figure out what Mayweather did, which was that the way to sell himself wasn’t to try and be a clone of Oscar (De la Hoya). He came up with this ‘Money’ thing and look at him. You need a big name in boxing. Floyd is that.’
Mayweather is such a draw that in 2012 Forbes magazine named him the highest-paid athlete in the world. Because he fought only once in the time period (May 1, 2012 to May 1, 2013) Forbes uses, Mayweather dropped to No 14 on this year’s list, but he will earn an estimated $40 million minimum in September, lifting his total earnings in 2013 to at least $74 million, according to the magazine’s figures.
On a similar list compiled by Sports Illustrated, Mayweather was the highest-paid athlete in 2012 and 2013 with estimated gross earnings of nearly $90 million this year. Under their projections, despite having few if any endorsements, Mayweather’s estimated income nearly doubled SI’s estimates for his closest competitors: LeBron James’ $56 million, Drew Brees at $47.8 million, Kobe Bryant at $46.9 million and Tiger Woods’ $40.8 million.
Internationally the same is true. In SI’s projections for 2013, Mayweather’s income blew away the international competition, nearly doubling the projected incomes of David Beckham ($48.3 million) and Roger Federer ($43.4 million). Forget about soccer superstars Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. They couldn’t carry Mayweather’s money bag. Or is it money bags?
Mayweather addressed the station he now holds on the final leg of a 10-city, nine-day promotional tour with Alvarez that traversed the US and Mexico to hype the fight. That tour cost its promoters and cable network Showtime over $1 million but produced large crowds that made it worthwhile at every stop. Although the majority who turned out boisterously favored Alvarez, what did Mayweather care?
Long ago the man considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world figured out that popularity can make you rich but so can polarity. If you can create both, you become considerably more than rich. You become Money Mayweather, someone who cashes in whether people love him, hate him or simply think he’s taken leave of his senses. The Ring online article
It’s the good chin, the tremendous heart: when it comes down to boxing I’m the best at this. The Rise and Reign of Floyd Mayweather TBE, Youtube 3.15.07, 2020
Floyd’s family had been involved in the sport of boxing even before Floyd’s arrival into the world. Floyd was born on February 24th 1977. ibid. caption
The Mayweather family included a father and an uncle … Roger Mayweather [uncle] was the most successful winning titles in two weights. Iibid.
In 1996 Floyd Mayweather competed as a featheweight in the Atlanta Olympics … The judges didn’t announce Mayweather as the winner; the robbery was so bad that even the shocked referee had pre-eminently raised Mayweather’s hand. ibid.
Mayweather racked up 13 knockouts in 17 straight wins and he was doing it in style. ibid.
After only two years of fighting Mayweather got his title shot. ibid.
No-one in the division had even come close to this kind of performance against Hernandez. ibid.
Floyd’s struggle for fame … [and] Mayweather had been getting robbed of his ring earnings. ibid.
He was struggling to get big names in the ring with him. ibid.
Mayweather revealed the shocking extent to which his hands were susceptible to injuries. ibid.
130 lb King: Floyd made 8 successful defences of the super-featherweight crown. ibid.
Just days before the fight with Castillo, Mayweather injured his shoulder in training. ibid.
He wanted the mega-fights against the big names. And few fighters wanted to take the risk. ibid.
v Gatti: Floyd turned his first pay-per-view experience into an entertainment spectacle … After six rounds of torture, the fight was stopped. ibid.
v de la Hoya: It was Floyd who was landing punches with more accuracy. ibid.
v Hatton: Floyd surprisingly fought in close range with the British brawler. ibid.
It was Mayweather who began to walk Shane [Mosley] down looking for the finish. ibid.
‘Mayweather is on a different level.’ ibid. de la Hoya
Victor Ortiz weighed in a massive fourteen pounds heavier than Mayweather. ibid.
v Cotto, Light-Middleweight: Floyd’s accuracy was giving him the edge … This was no easy task. ibid.
v Canelo Alvarez, 14th September 2013: Mayweather was finding Canelo’s chin with perfection.
v Pacquiao, 2nd May 2015: The magnitude of the event was evident … Floyd fought with intense focus right from the opening bell. ibid.