if floyd 3-4 years ago can think he can be king again w/o beating the then current p4p king pacquiao?

Floyd have done enough for his legacy but not all are in a good way. He is a good fighter who beats good fighters that puts him in a status where he can now dictates and cherry picks which can be given and have been given a pass. By not retiring and fighting opponents of his own choice puts him in a position where doubts starts to question his self proclaim greatness. Records doesn't mean much without a substance and that is how he will be remembered in the future. By not fighting Manny Pacquiao who we want him to fight and insisting on a low level of competition leaves some undesirable taste on our mouth. How can someone compare himself to those greats and proclaim greatness without really trying and use records or zero loss as evidence. There's so many of them without any losses that were not even qualified to be in the same sentence with those legends and he is one of them.

His legacy will include being an author of excuses and alibis why he can provide the competitions expected from a fighter who called themselves great. His legacy will include being the richest athlete and I don't know if it is enough for a fighter to be compared and all these, he should be thankful to those who help him attained this status.

Floyd is clearly one of the best fighters ever. He's done enough to prove that. But, The Best Ever? Even if Mayweather does fight Pacquiao, it's not likely that many would rate him above the likes of Robinson or ALI. He might not even be rated the best welterweight, which is where his best fights took place.

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Not fighting Pacquiao ensures that Mayweather will never be considered the best ever. No fighter, in any Top 10, ever finished a career without fighting the premier fighter of his generation, within his weight class.

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It's not even a matter of fair or unfair. If that's the case, Mayweather does not get a pass. He fought some "good" welterweights, not great ones. You MUST fight the best of your era.

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Look at Riddick Bowe. It can be argued that he deserves to be rated above Holyfield because he won 2 of their 3 fights. However, it's doubtful he ever will be rated in any rational person's Top 10. He best Holyfield but he failed to fight Tyson and he ran from Lewis.

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Getting closer to home, some compare Mayweather to Sugar Ray Leonard. However, could Leonard have gotten away with not fighting Roberto Duran or Thomas Hearns? Here you have TWO premier opponents. Could Leonard have retired after winning the title from Benitez, and still be considered great?

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Mayweather has only ONE "must fight" opponent. Amir Khan is a formidable opponent but no one really cares if he never fights Khan. I'd love to see that fight but I don't think Mayweather needs to fight Khan in order to prove anything. He's past his prime and Khan presents a stylistic nightmare. Prime Mayweather would make Khan look silly. But Mayweather is no longer in his prime.

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With names like Benitez, Duran, Hearns and Hagler on his resume, Ray Leonard will likely always be rated above Floyd Mayweather. With the absence of Pacquiao's name on his ledger, Mayweather all but ensures that he will never be rated #1 even at welterweight and certainly P4P.

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Mayweather is not the only one to blame. Still, history will tell that he failed to fight the best of his generation. In ten years, no one will care WHY the fight never happened, only that it never happened.

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Floyd is the captain of the ship we call boxing today. He will take the brunt of the blame for this non-fight, fair or not.