Right now, boxing is still alive and well with several up and coming superstars but there's been one man who's been carrying the sport in his shoulders for the past 8 years - the current pound for pound king, Floyd "Money" Mayweather. He's shown no signs of slowing down at the age of 36 and looking at what's out there for him as potential opponents, I don't see anyone who can come close to beating him. With his shoulder-roll defense, his accurate counter-punching and supreme conditioning that he's managed to maintain over 18 years of fighting professionally, I have to ask this question: Is Floyd Mayweather the greatest defensive fighter of all time?
As boxing fans, we tend to preserve our heroes but we still try to be objective. For example, Muhammad Ali is my favorite fighter of all time and I believe he was the greatest Heavyweight of all time because of the quality of opposition he faced during the course of his career. Other fighters have had longer title reigns, but none of them faced the amount of Hall of Famers as Ali did.
Another example: For many years, I've considered Pernell Whitaker the greatest defensive fighter of all time because he could make defending a punch look like an art form while making his opponents look silly. I was a huge Sweet Pea fan since his amateur days and I could not picture anyone being as good or better than Whitaker defensively. Until now.
The reason why I ask if Floyd is the best defensive fighter of all time is because he's been able to maintain this level of defensive wizardry for a longer period of time than Whitaker did and also, Floyd has never been officially knocked down by a punch (although Zab Judah should have been credited for knocking Floyd down when Floyd's glove touched the canvas after absorbing a counter right hook in the second round of their fight). And while Whitaker was a brilliant defensive guru, he has been knocked down on a few occasions.
Part of being a great defensive fighter is having the ability to counter-punch and Floyd is clearly the best counter-puncher in the sport and the best I've seen since Wilfred Benitez. NO one in boxing history combines defensive excellence and pin-point counterpunching better than Mayweather, who's been boxing since he was knee high to a fly.
And a lot of old-timers might bring up Willie Pep as the best defensive fighter of all time and he was amazing (he won a round without throwing a punch once), but he's been stopped before (Hall of Famer Sandy Saddler stopped him 3 times) and he's been knocked down several times in his career.
The knock on Floyd for most of his career is that he hasn't faced any great fighters who were in their prime and that is true (the same could be said about Rocky Marciano), but Floyd has faced several Hall of Fame-caliber fighters ( Oscar, Mosley, Cotto, Gatti) and some very good fighters (Diego Corrales, Jose Luis Castillo, Ricky Hatton, Canelo).
For many years, I believe Pernell Whitaker was the greatest Defensive fighter of all time and he was, but when another fighter comes along and surpasses him in just about every category, I have no choice but to re-evaluate. Floyd Mayweather, based on his longevity, his counter-punching and because he's never really been knocked down, is the greatest Defensive fighter of all time.
