Floyd Mayweather Jr. ended his professional boxing career with 50 wins and not one defeat, and his record should easily qualify as one of the best seen in the ring. Mike Tyson agrees that the six-division champion is a great fighter but the honor of being the best belongs to someone else.
Tyson knows his boxing history and he acknowledges that Mayweather's record is something to celebrate. However, Iron Mike is unwilling to support the Money's claim that he is "The Best Ever" that boxing has produced.
The American anchors his boast on the fact that he has a 50-0 record, which is one win better than the previous best - owned by heavyweight icon Rocky Marciano. The latter called it quits after posting 49-0 and it stood for decades until Mayweather came along.
Still, Tyson is far from convinced that Mayweather has a firm grip on the GOAT title, making known his sentiment in a recent podcast.
"Floyd's a great fighter, don't get me wrong. He had 50 fights," Talk Sport reported the former heavyweight champion as saying.
For the history student, two men did better than Mayweather. Tyson pointed to Ray Robinson who registered 91 consecutive wins and there was Julio Cesar Chavez, whose 89-winning run during his heyday is the stuff of boxing legend. However, the two boxers have blemished on their records.
Robinson suffered a loss during his 41st professional fight and absorbed a setback anew after picking his straight 91 victories on the ring. For his part, Chavez tasted defeat following his stretch of triumphs that reached 90. Yes, the record showed that the legends were not without disappointments during their illustrious fighting days.
In contrast, the concept of being subdued by his foes is alien to Mayweather over the course of his long professional campaign. The American can be characterized as a giant slayer because he met with the best fighters of his time - Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya, to name a few - and he conquered all these great warriors.
Mayweather walked out of the game and his perfect record is set in stone, and according to Sport Bible, this makes for a strong case that the 43-year-old is among the alphas of boxing. He can, in fact, lay claim to the GOAT title, and many experts will weigh in readily that Mayweather deserves the distinction.
Perhaps to further his belief that he is boxing's TBE, Mayweather continues to fight in exhibition matches and shows no signs of losing any time soon. His most recent win was in a crossover bout against MMA superstar Conor McGregor and next month, he'll square off with YouTube star Logan Paul.
To be sure, the millionaire boxer has no plans of losing, certainly not against Paul who is deemed a newbie in the boxing ring.
