Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao

Adam D wrote:

kingraf wrote:Thoughts? Won't happen.

Floyd signed a six fight deal with Showtime
Manny signed a two year extension with TopRank and by extension HBO.

It's not really financially sensible for Manny anymore. His two Macau fights made him $55-60m at 12% tax. Floyd's two fights this year made him $70-80m at 40%.

Fights Floyd for a flat $40m, he goes home with $24m... goes to China and fight for $25M.. He goes home with $22m... hardly earth shaking finances

Could he not fight Floyd in Macau?

hazharrison wrote:

88Chris05 wrote:Roy's record isn't really as threadbare as his detractors like to claim. You'll have to forgive me lads, as I recognise I've written a more or less identical post in the past to the one below, but it's the best way I can try to drill home just how special and freakish a fighter Jones was in his pomp. People talk as if he only shone because he was facing no-names, which is ridiculous.

Castro: Won a world title and defended if a few times in the years after losing to Jones, beating John David Jackson twice. Dominated and shut out by Jones.

Hopkins: Didn't lose for another twelve years after being beaten by Jones, was a world champion within the next two years.

Malinga: Beat Nigel Benn, dropped a controversial split decision to Eubank and went on to beat Robin Reid to become a world champion, but outclassed and knocked out in six by Jones (his first stoppage loss, and he didn't have another until he was forty-three).

Thomas Tate: Gives Julian Jackson, one of the greatest ko artists in history, a hell of a fight en route to losing a close decision, standing up to his legendary power well. Gets blasted out in two rounds by Jones, though - the only stoppage loss of his career.

Toney: Pound for pound number two at the time, in the best and most consistent form of his career, won world titles and a Ring Magazine 'Fighter of the Year' award in years to come - humiliated by Jones.

Griffin: Unbeaten, two wins over Toney (albeit one of them a bit dodgy) and dominated Michalczewski for three rounds before that contentious stoppage in the fourth - obliterated in one round by Jones in their rematch.

Hill: Only prior defeats had been close points losses to top fighters like Hearns and Michalczewski, and would go on to win another world title in years to come. Flattened inside four rounds by Jones.

Reggie Johnson: Two-weight titlist, beat good fighters like Steve Collins and supposedly can't-miss prospects like Parks and Guthrie with most of his losses to guys such as Castro, Toney and John David Jackson being questionable to say the least. Lost every minute of every round against Jones.

Hall: Good enough to give Michalczewski two very interesting scraps, but was on the end of one of the worst and most sustained beat downs you'll ever see against Jones.

Harding: Was able to beat good fighters such as a previously undefeated Tarver and Griffin. After some early problems, eventually figured out by Jones, has his main weapon taken away from him and is pulled out by his corner against Jones.

Harmon: Outscored Glen Johnson, was a mile ahead against Michalczewski before getting stopped, but lost every round against Jones before the corner retirement.

Gonzalez: Undefeated at the time, went on to beat Glen Johnson and then overthrow Michalczewski in Germany a couple of years later - dropped multiple times and dominated by Jones.

Woods: Would go on to win a world title later in his career and beat Gonzalez twice, but was well outclassed and stopped in six rounds (his only ever stoppage loss) against Jones.

All of that before beating Ruiz for a Heavyweight belt (ok, bit of a gimmicky exercise but nevertheless, I don't see many guys in history Jones' size beating even an average Heavyweight titlist like Ruiz while giving away about 30 lb) and then returning to 175 to reclaim his title from Tarver in their first fight - which was a fair decision, despite Antonio's complaints.

He didn't have the names around to make him an Ezzard Charles kind of figure, and you can argue with plenty of justification that he has only one or two wins which really stand out as being 'great.' But he made a huge number of good, sometimes very good fighters look as if they'd never even set foot in a ring before such was his dominance. When you look at how those guys did against the other leading guys between 160 and 175 of that era, and what they achieved before / after losing to Jones, you get a better appreciation of just how dominant he really was and how it's not as "easy" to do what Jones did as the naysayers seem to think.

Similarly to Louis, Jofre and Wilde, you can argue that the names on Jones' CV don't scream out greatness. But if like the other three regularly benefit from you're awarding additional points for all-round talent and the stunning displays of it along with consistency and longevity, then there's no way Jones can be anything other than a genuine all-time great. As for the Super-Middles, Toney (as evidenced) and Calzaghe simply not in the same class as him, and I don't say that lightly.

Jones was great but that roster of opponents is looking poorer as the years go by - a fair few of those had seen better days. Roy's greatness was in his performance, though - certainly until he became somewhat spooked by the injury to McClellan.

After Hopkins and Toney the best men he fought were Johnson and Tarver (I'm choosing to ignore the Trinidad and Calzaghe fights).

sohotnot wrote:

hazharrison wrote:

88Chris05 wrote:Roy's record isn't really as threadbare as his detractors like to claim. You'll have to forgive me lads, as I recognise I've written a more or less identical post in the past to the one below, but it's the best way I can try to drill home just how special and freakish a fighter Jones was in his pomp. People talk as if he only shone because he was facing no-names, which is ridiculous.

Castro: Won a world title and defended if a few times in the years after losing to Jones, beating John David Jackson twice. Dominated and shut out by Jones.

Hopkins: Didn't lose for another twelve years after being beaten by Jones, was a world champion within the next two years.

Malinga: Beat Nigel Benn, dropped a controversial split decision to Eubank and went on to beat Robin Reid to become a world champion, but outclassed and knocked out in six by Jones (his first stoppage loss, and he didn't have another until he was forty-three).

Thomas Tate: Gives Julian Jackson, one of the greatest ko artists in history, a hell of a fight en route to losing a close decision, standing up to his legendary power well. Gets blasted out in two rounds by Jones, though - the only stoppage loss of his career.

Toney: Pound for pound number two at the time, in the best and most consistent form of his career, won world titles and a Ring Magazine 'Fighter of the Year' award in years to come - humiliated by Jones.

Griffin: Unbeaten, two wins over Toney (albeit one of them a bit dodgy) and dominated Michalczewski for three rounds before that contentious stoppage in the fourth - obliterated in one round by Jones in their rematch.

Hill: Only prior defeats had been close points losses to top fighters like Hearns and Michalczewski, and would go on to win another world title in years to come. Flattened inside four rounds by Jones.

Reggie Johnson: Two-weight titlist, beat good fighters like Steve Collins and supposedly can't-miss prospects like Parks and Guthrie with most of his losses to guys such as Castro, Toney and John David Jackson being questionable to say the least. Lost every minute of every round against Jones.

Hall: Good enough to give Michalczewski two very interesting scraps, but was on the end of one of the worst and most sustained beat downs you'll ever see against Jones.

Harding: Was able to beat good fighters such as a previously undefeated Tarver and Griffin. After some early problems, eventually figured out by Jones, has his main weapon taken away from him and is pulled out by his corner against Jones.

Harmon: Outscored Glen Johnson, was a mile ahead against Michalczewski before getting stopped, but lost every round against Jones before the corner retirement.

Gonzalez: Undefeated at the time, went on to beat Glen Johnson and then overthrow Michalczewski in Germany a couple of years later - dropped multiple times and dominated by Jones.

Woods: Would go on to win a world title later in his career and beat Gonzalez twice, but was well outclassed and stopped in six rounds (his only ever stoppage loss) against Jones.

All of that before beating Ruiz for a Heavyweight belt (ok, bit of a gimmicky exercise but nevertheless, I don't see many guys in history Jones' size beating even an average Heavyweight titlist like Ruiz while giving away about 30 lb) and then returning to 175 to reclaim his title from Tarver in their first fight - which was a fair decision, despite Antonio's complaints.

He didn't have the names around to make him an Ezzard Charles kind of figure, and you can argue with plenty of justification that he has only one or two wins which really stand out as being 'great.' But he made a huge number of good, sometimes very good fighters look as if they'd never even set foot in a ring before such was his dominance. When you look at how those guys did against the other leading guys between 160 and 175 of that era, and what they achieved before / after losing to Jones, you get a better appreciation of just how dominant he really was and how it's not as "easy" to do what Jones did as the naysayers seem to think.

Similarly to Louis, Jofre and Wilde, you can argue that the names on Jones' CV don't scream out greatness. But if like the other three regularly benefit from you're awarding additional points for all-round talent and the stunning displays of it along with consistency and longevity, then there's no way Jones can be anything other than a genuine all-time great. As for the Super-Middles, Toney (as evidenced) and Calzaghe simply not in the same class as him, and I don't say that lightly.

Jones was great but that roster of opponents is looking poorer as the years go by - a fair few of those had seen better days. Roy's greatness was in his performance, though - certainly until he became somewhat spooked by the injury to McClellan.

After Hopkins and Toney the best men he fought were Johnson and Tarver (I'm choosing to ignore the Trinidad and Calzaghe fights).

So Harding beats an undefeated Tarver and Harmon & Gonzalez beat Johnson, yet Tarver and Johnson were the best fighters Jones fought after Hopkins & Toney? OK