Why does the discussion around Floyd Mayweather Jr.‘s legacy always raise so many questions, while other boxers—both his contemporaries and predecessors—enjoy a seamless postscript? Did he do anything wrong? Next month, the 47-year-old undefeated former champion will enter the ring for another exhibition match in Mexico City against John Gotti III. Their previous encounter in June last year ended in the most controversial manner imaginable.

One of the most frequent questions raised over Mayweather Jr.’s legacy has been the alleged tactic to delay a fight. While it would amp up the anticipation around the clash, his own risks would be minimized, and all the while he would make the most of the match in financial terms. However, a well-known boxing enthusiast and YouTube content creator argues that it may not be the right approach to evaluate ‘Money Mayweather’s greatness. There might be an altogether different reason why he didn’t quite reach the mark set by some of the other boxing greats.

Floyd Mayweather Jr., unquestionably among the best

‘@ShowBizz The Adult’, made an interesting observation. He brought up the June 29 fight between Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez and Juan Francisco Estrada. The two super flyweights gave an outstanding performance in what many consider a ‘fight of the year’ nominee. However, it was Rodriguez, who, despite suffering a career-first knockdown, emerged a star that night.

His stellar performance has now pushed him to fifth place on Ring magazine’s P4P list. Many now consider him the next big thing in boxing. But for all his feats, one key aspect ‘@ShowBizz The Adult’ took up was the age gap between the ‘Bam’ and ‘El Gallo’. While the former turned 24 in January, the Mexican turned 34 in April.

So the YouTube boxing commentator argued that while no one questions Rodriguez’s accomplishment, vis-à-vis Floyd Mayweather Jr., there has to be some consistency. He gave an example of the 2013 clash with Canelo Alvarez. Against ‘The Money’s 36 years, the Mexican stood 23, 13 years his junior. But to what end? From many quarters, noises came up about how he had defeated a relatively inexperienced boxer.

Hence, if one decides to laud ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, then Mayweather Jr. deserves all the appreciation in the world for the boxing clinic he delivered against Alvarez. What would have happened if instead of ‘Bam’, Estrada had won? Would he have received the same amount of criticism as Mayweather Jr. did?

So what ‘The Money’ did was indeed great. But where he deviated from the rest of the boxing giants was in terms of restricting his talent. He never took the risk of venturing into uncharted waters and fighting in maybe higher divisions.

Could he have done more to secure the top spot?

“Where I knock Floyd is I think Floyd should have kept, I think he should have fought at 160; I think should have kept going like Duran did, like Pacquiao did, to see how great is he really, like Tommy Hearns did. Listen, you slaying everybody here; keep going,” said ‘@ShowBizz The Adult’.

One might find some merit in the boxing commentator’s argument. Floyd Mayweather Jr. was a five-division champion. But his career trajectory shows stranded phases, and then sometimes he would go down across weight classes. Now take Tommy Hearns, for example. Starting with the welterweight division, the ‘Motor City Cobra’ broke through the walls of the cruiserweight division.

But then there’s always a counterargument. Perhaps the real greatness of Floyd Mayweather Jr. lies in understanding his boundaries and then building his legacy and taking it to heights within those limits.

What are your thoughts? Do you think Mayweather Jr. should have followed the blueprint of other greats?