Manny Pacquiao delivered a swift response, akin to his blistering style in the ring, when asked to compare the illustrious careers of Floyd Mayweather and Roy Jones Jr.
The Filipino southpaw locked horns with Mayweather back in 2015, many years removed from what most would have considered their respective primes.
For Pacquiao, especially, the blockbuster event arrived far too late, with this version of the eight-division world champion not being the same force that he once was.
Mayweather, too, was hardly at the peak of his powers, but his masterful defensive manoeuvres were nonetheless enough to convincingly outpoint his long-term rival.
Instead, Mayweather’s prime is widely considered to be around the time that he secured a punishing 10th-round stoppage victory over Diego Corrales in 2001.
Back then, ‘Pretty Boy’ was not only campaigning down at super-featherweight – several divisions below 147lbs – but had just initiated his dominant surge in the lower weight classes.
Mayweather did, of course, later amass his more high-profile victories against the likes of Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Shane Mosely, but this was during a time when many felt that he was fighting above his natural weight.
Jones Jr, meanwhile, is another pound-for-pound legend who flew through the divisions, though many believe that his best years came at middle and super-middleweight.
Notable victories over Bernard Hopkins and James Toney, for instance, were enough to cement Jones’ greatness in those particular weight classes.
And so, when considering that, as well as Pacquiao’s bitter feud with Mayweather, it is perhaps unsurprising that the 46-year-old opined in an interview with FightHype that, prime for prime, Jones was the better fighter.
Jones and Mayweather had actually been linked to a shock fight with one another earlier this year after the pair became embroiled in a back and forth on social media.
While those talks have now gone quiet, it remarkably appears that a rematch between Pacquiao and Mayweather could be on the cards for 2026.
