In this writer’s opinion the two best boxers in the world P4P have been Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and Vasyl “Hi-Tech” Lomachenko. Too many Americans give them no credit but give Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr., and Andre Ward too much credit.
I had a GGG shirt and a Marciano shirt made up. When people see Marciano on the front 49-0 they ask “how about Floyd?” As I walk away from them there on the back is Mayweather 49-0.
Like those in major league baseball using enhancers and have an * next to their record so should Mayweather 50*-0. He defeated a rank amateur who probably hadn’t had a boxing match since he was a teen.
In his 29th fight Mayweather met up with Jose Luis Castillo, 45-4-1, in April of 2002 at the MGM Grand. Not only did Mayweather get a “gift” decision that night he felt obligated to give Castillo a rematch in his next fight.
On another occasion Mayweather met up with Marcos Maidana, 35-3, of the Argentine in his 45th fight like Ray Leonard in the first fight with Roberto Duran he fought Maidana’s fight and this writer had it 6 rounds apiece. That was September of 2014. In his next fight in May of 2015 Mayweather felt compelled to give Maidana a rematch and fought his normal defensive boring style in out maneuvering Maidana who never fought another fight again.
Can you imagine Mayweather in with “Sugar” Ray Leonard, Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker or Aaron “The Hawk” Pryor let alone the “real sugar man” and P4P greatest boxer of all time “Sugar” Ray Robinson? How about in with “Hammerin” Henry Armstrong?
Watching Ward initiate 46 clinches against Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev, 30-0-1, in their first match in November of 2016 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas the partial referee Robert Byrd never took away a point. All 3 judges had Ward ahead by one point. Taking one point and it would have been a draw and Kovalev would have retained his belts. Granted he lost the rematch in June of 2017 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.
At times watching Ward is like “watching wallpaper dry” on a Saturday night. Can you imagine him in with Harold Johnson or Archie Moore? One would have given him a boxing lesson and the other would have knocked him out!
Both Mayweather and Ward knew when it was time to retire. Mayweather got together with his friend Conor McGregor and probably said “there’s a sucker born every day. Just think if somehow they allowed us to box one another? $400 million dollars in pay later guess what? And Mcgregor wants a rematch? Where Dublin, Ireland on St. Patty’s day?