Floyd Mayweather is regarded as the greatest fighter since the turn of the millennium by many boxing fans. However, three-time BWAA Trainer of the Year Robert Garcia believes that there is one active fighter who has had a more impressive career than ‘TBE’.
Mayweather ruled in five weight divisions and beat a host of fellow legends such as Manny Pacquiao, Oscar De La Hoya and Miguel Cotto, before retiring with a perfect 50-fight undefeated record.
The defensive master has, however, often been criticised for being too selective and business-minded during his career, accused of including clauses in contracts that aided his chances or picking opponents when they were vulnerable or past their best.
On the True Hustle Podcast, well-respected trainer Garcia discussed Mayweather swerving a lucrative showdown with Antonio Margarito back in 2006, as was reported by ESPN at the time.
“Years ago, when Mayweather was in his prime and at welterweight, I never seen the contract but I was told and I know that the word is that Top Rank offered him eight-million-dollars to fight [Antonio] Margarito and he never wanted to fight Margarito, so he avoided Margarito.”
Continuing, Garcia then went on to declare that he is more impressed by Canelo Alvarez’s career than Mayweather’s, despite the fact that Mayweather defeated the Mexican superstar back in 2013.
“Canelo has that same kind of criticism where people could say that he has picked his opponents a little bit more, you could say that there is some truth there, but I think that he has taken more challenges [than Mayweather].
“He has moved up in weights, who the f**k goes up to light-heavyweight, you know what I mean? A 5’8” guy? He is not tall, he is 5’8” or 5’9” maybe.
“So, I would probably say that, at the end, I think that Canelo [had a more impressive career than Mayweather]. He took those chances, he didn’t have to go to light-heavyweight to fight [Dmitry] Bivol, he didn’t have to do it but he took those chances.”
Canelo will have the chance to further improve his legacy when he attempts to regain the WBC super-middleweight world title against Christian Mbilli next month, off the back of the longest period of inactivity in his career to date.
