Being undefeated is over rated!

In Floyd Mayweather’s mind his greatness hinges on the fact that he is undefeated, he has even proclaimed himself as the greatest fighter ever but really, is being undefeated that important? Is that what makes a fighter great?

The obvious answer would be yes, if you’re undefeated it means nobody could beat you and therefore you are the best but that isn’t always the case. Lets look at Sven ‘The Phantom’ Ottke, a German super middleweight who retired as an undefeated champion. Simply saying that sounds impressive but he will never be regarded as one of the best.

He spent his entire career in Germany where he picked up a number of questionable decisions. Although a good fighter in his own right his name will never be mentioned along with the likes of Ali, Robinson, Leonard, Hagler or Duran.

Another fighter who could fall into this bracket is Britain’s Joe Calzaghe. Now don’t get me wrong, Calzaghe is years ahead of the likes of Ottke but the fact that his biggest wins came at the tail end of his career against fighters past their prime (the Hopkins decision being a rather questionable one) means not everyone will realise the magnitude of his accomplishments. He was a dominant champion at super middleweight but did not face the best of his era so people will always point to that when people talk of his achievements at that weight.

Like Calzaghe not fighting the best of his era, people will say that Mayweather never took risks during his career, ducking the best fighters in order to remain undefeated but a fighter with losses on his record like Miguel Cotto, whether you like him or not, will always be respected because he never ducked a fight.

His legacy reads as a who’s who of modern boxing having fought Carlos Quintana, Paulie Malignaggi, Zab Judah, , Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito and Manny Pacquiao amongst others. Although he lost to the last two on that list (the Margarito fight being questionable) the fact he was so willing to fight these guys holds him in great stead when people look back at his career.

Mayweather is a good enough boxer to beat the fighters he has/people say he has ducked but currently despite being undefeated, his legacy doesn’t match up to his skills.

When he came back from his 18 month retirement he said it was to fight the best and in facing Shane Mosley he has kept to his word. If he can continue this, he will leave little doubt in people’s minds over his greatness.

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