The only elite prizefighter to remain undefeated in 15 years?
Joe “The Italian Dragon” Calzaghe went to win all 46 bouts (32 by knockouts) in his 15-year professional boxing career before he decided to hang up the gloves. In the process, Calzaghe nabbed all four major alphabet titles (IBF, WBA, WBC, and WBO) in the super middleweight division and faced elite opposition that included former and current world champions like Roy Jones, Jr., Bernard Hopkins, Chris Eubank, Mikkel Kessler, Sakio Bika, and Jeff Lacy.
Mexican ring legend and Hall-of-Famer Ricardo Lopez boasts of a better record than Calzaghe. Lopez, whose 16-year boxing career flourished from 1985 to 2001, won 51 bouts out 52, 38 by knockouts. The draw with Rosendo Alvarez in March 1998 is the only spot in an otherwise storied career. Lopez would score a split decision win over Alvarez seven months later. During his streak, Lopez won the WBA, WBC, and WBO minimumweight and the IBF light flyweight titles.
Rocky Marciano (right) lands a right hook on Jersey Joe Walcott
To say that apart from Floyd Mayweather, Jr., “no other elite boxer in history has remained undefeated for 15 years” is ridiculous and absurd.
The statement came from Mayweather’s lawyer, Mark G. Tratos, who represents the former world champion and ex pound-for-pound top dog in his legal battle against Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao over the former’s alleged defamatory acts, including Mayweather’s accusations that Pacquiao supposedly took performance-enhancing drugs to aid him in his recent ring battles.
Other better “undefeateds”
Like him or hate him, the late Edwin Valero was an entertaining pug who never got the chance to reach the peak of his career and abilities. The former super featherweight and lightweight world champion from Venezuela, however, managed to leave behind a legacy that is hard to replicate – 100% win rate coupled with 100% knockout rate. The Venezuelan power puncher registered a 27-0 slate, with all 27 opponents kissing the canvas. And stayed there.
Speaking of undefeated boxers, it is a sin not to include Rocky Marciano in the conversation. The late heavyweight champion of the world remains to be the only pugilist in the heavyweight division to call it quits with a pristine record of 49-0, with 42 fights won by stoppage. That’s eight more fights than Mayweather. Oh, Rocky also did all that in a span of eight years, from 1947 to 1955.
Photo credits: American Memorabilia
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Kenneth P. Ragpala is an award-winning sports blogger who has been covering the sport of boxing since 2008. His works have appeared in local newspapers in his home city in Cagayan de Oro and in several online publications abroad.
Ragpala has written for several boxing websites, namely Fight Hype, 8 Count News, and Bleacher Report.
ducker
be fair! i dont like mayweather because im a filipino but that floyd? is much more talented than manny, in terms of ring generalship, admit it, nobody does it better but mayweather, boring as they say but entertaining as i see..
Call Floyd what you want. I’m just as pissed as everyone else that he wont fight manny. But what u can’t take away from him is his talent and fights. He beat every single one of his opponents fairly to be the undefeated boxer that he is..
I agree with you Erik. Floyd is one the best boxers of our generation. But to claim that he is the only elite boxer who is undefeated is more than a stretch.
floyd is undefeated coz he fights fighter that he know cant beat him he ducks fighter that capable of kicking his ass but folks watch the fight between mayweather and castillo the 1st one castillo beat mayweather in that fight but its announce as a split decision ruling to gayweather but if u watch the fight castillo won it clearly by decision ..shame on the judges score it for floyd oh i think by this time the money bribe to them by floyd was gone but at this time it still benifits floyd his golden 0 defeat…….he talks about cleaning the sport whos the cheeter in that fight? but give credit to gayweather he beats castillo in their rematch so y ders is a rematch?bec.fans do see castillo beat floyd in theur 1st meeting!@!!!!but by that time castillos long ring wars catch up to him dats why floyd beat him that time in the second fight!!!!!i think castillo is the 1st boxer who ever beat floyd not in the core cards but in the heart of boxing fans…..
May tama ka!
Reyn, I agree with you on the first Castillo fight. I have a DVD of that fight and if you watch it closely and in slow motion if in doubt, Castillo won that fight by a close margin.
i think floyd as undefeated fighter could not be as elite as other true elites because he is cherry picking his opponents and “retires” whenever there are tough opponents around…in those days great fighters fight whoever is offered infront of them….
he always talk about cleaning the sport but his the 1 who clearly cheats in his fight example the fight with marquez its a catch weight right but floyd used his money he have ton of it so it doesnt matter if he pay for that extra weight for that fight poor MM have nothing to do but to continue with the fight who knows how many pounds floyd gain in that fight with dinamita we all know that every bit of pounds add up to boxers punch weight so marquez feels like fighting a light heavy weight thats why MM goes down in the 1st round and the rest is history another cheating win for floyd…..and now his a scientist too he thinks pacquiao is using some drug to capture that eight belts of him oh the boxing organization is so dumb that they cant trace the illegal substance that pacman is using for how many years?oh y is it manny is the only one uses it if its that effective?if everybody knows about this drug every boxer in the world will be 8 weight division champion……..but i dont see it that way its simply ducking manny thats why the gayweathers says this shit……..they are the shame of the sport..
he always talk about cleaning the sport but his the 1 who clearly cheats in his fights. example the fight with marquez its a catch weight right? but floyd used his money he have ton of it! so it doesnt matter if he pays for that extra weight for that fight, poor MM have nothing to do but to continue with the fight who knows how many pounds floyd gain in that fight with dinamita we all know that every bit of pounds adds up to boxers punch weight so marquez feels like he’s fighting a light heavy weight. thats why MM goes down in the 1st round and the rest is history another cheating win for floyd…..and now his a scientist too he thinks pacquiao is using some drug to capture that eight belts of him oh the boxing organization is so dumb that they cant trace the illegal substance that pacman is using for how many years?oh y is it manny is the only one uses it if its that effective?if everybody knows about this drug every boxer in the world will be 8 weight division champion……..but i dont see it that way its simply ducking manny thats why the gayweathers says this shit……..they are the shame of this sport..
Hmmm his first fight with Castillo was suspiciously a win for Mayweather but almost everybody who saw that fight will have a good argument that he lost that fight. Being undefeated is great if you never avoided good boxers from fighting like Cotto, Margarito (years ago) and Manny Pacquiao. If all you do is put barriers from making the fight from happening (as clearly what he is doing right now to avoid the great Manny Pacquiao), then, that does not impress a lot of people at all including black, great former boxers like Foreman, Holyfield, Holmes and Hagler among others….He is a ducker for all intent and purposes…
Does floyd beat every single one fairly? I think NO! His 1st battle win against Castillo was a robbery and with his fight against Delahoya was close, go either way kind of match.
he is a criminal
Yes..i cant take away from Floyd his ducking ability..Hehe
i don’t agree with fairly watch the fights of floyd against oscar and speciaaly the one with castillo many fans dont think its fair….
Your Fraud GayWither most wins are from Fixed Fights.
Most of your FRAUD GayWither’s wins comes from a fairly fixed fight HAHAHAH BOOOOH!
Floyd lost to Castillo….People should at least do some research because Castillo wont hat first fight.
he didnt beat castillo fairly…he lost that fight n it was given to him. he should have a loss right now. I also wouldnt say hes a elite fighter when he only fights boxers that are in a lower weight class
you Know NOTHING about boxing Gerardo. he fought Shane Mosley and Oscar Del a hoya.. do your homework b4 u make a statement thats Not Val
valid
Whhaaaat??? Floyd Gayweather is the Best Boxer in Our Generetion?????… HA ha ha ha!!!!!!…..
Not the best. LOL. One of the best, he is.
yes, floyd is great only for ten active years and not on the later years when pacquiao join his division.
heyy! africans… Did you Know if who is Amir Khan????….
yeah right after picking opponents one after another you still believe that he has talent? don’t think so i want to see that talent if he one against margarito,cotto,and clotey if not pacquiao then bark like a dog about talent shish!
Eric, I may rebut on your allegations that Mayweather won all his bouts fair & square. Have you seen Mayweather vs Castillo I? He surely lost on this one, however, judges score was so biased against Castillo to survive this imminent loss on Floyd’s record.
Well that settles it. Floyd is not the only zero defeat in the name of professional boxing. The thing is he will just join the elite list of undefeated, that is if Vicious Dynamite Ortiz hits the canvass too.
A Floyd-Manny encounter can be called a dream fight and yes, only in the dreams of us fans.
This big money that Floyd will get after Ortiz will keep him happy for at least 2 more years and then he will again choose a another fight for money, one that he can easily beat, one that will be popularized by the boxing writers, not the square ring.
why does everyone think it is mayweather jr. who is the only one ducking? i think pacquiao and mayweather jr. are both at fault that this fight hasn’t happened yet. i think pacquiao deserves as much blame as mayweather jr. does. besides, just because they haven’t fought yet doesn’t mean they never will. if by next year the fight hasn’t happened, equal blame should go to both fighters. oh and by the way, if by chance they do fight, i’ve got mayweather winning a wide decision.
hey PACHECOCHECO del Manuel!… it’s your Coward boxer the only one who’s to be blamed because he never runs out of excuses. See what’s the latest issue ?.. even though Floyd Sr or Jr have NO authority to rule out the commission in the drug testing, Pac came out to agree to what your COWARD boxer’s blood test demand. Now comes force Pacquiao where he wants to train. it’s obviously that it’s Mayweather who is ducking the fight.
pacheco is a criminal follower!…idiot old fat guy like a pig!…
because, mr. pacheco, he was the only first boxer who demands a peds test, and now, he could not ask peds test to cotto, margarito, clottey, why???? just plain duck them, if only he demands to test pacman because he could not believe his skills and prowess, then that will pacman and him to iron it out, but he included pacmans origins, his size, from an asian country, peds origin, that was his mistake, now, about money and all others, blame it on the guys in the negotiating table, dont blame it on pacman, he only fight whats in front of him. see, he is poor now, he gave it to his country, not to himself.
oh by the way, if by chance they do fight too, i’ve got pacman winning by knockout in 3, 6, 9, rounds.
its mayweather coz he insist OSDT when everybody is not. coz when pacquiao is now a threat to him, he is asking OSDT but before pacquiao, no OSDT. coz he keeps retiring after fight.
Floyd should be blame about the PEDS and OSDT issue.
by saying that mayweather thinks boxing organizations wayback the day boxing is created up to our generation now he thinks they are so stupid with their test now that they cant detect if pacman is using something?oh how great is that drug used by manny that tha commision cant detect it…..but i see it the other way around family gayweathers are all crazy specially roger….
coward GAYweather..
gayweather is a criminal..Greatest boring criminal boxer of all time!..
bullseye….
He Chooses to be undefeated. He chooses his opponent.
it only proved that this Lawyer is a Liar… LMAO
Walang alam sa boxing ang abogago!
Mayweather, the best boxer of all time and that’s according to him. An insult to the true greats! sigh
im predicting ortiz will step up, he will give it his all to win against floyd coz he know thats the only way he can get a fight against pacquiao. while floyd is partying talking shits against manny giving all alibis why he doesnt fight this fighter or that fighter…..victor punishing his self at the gym so come fight night he will get all the glory!!!!!go victor show floyd he’s over looking the wrong warrior…..
all yall is haters who cares if he ducked fights nd stuff he is still underfeated nd is a great fighter nd if any of yall think diffrent why dnt u step in the ring wit him..