Floyd Mayweather famously proclaimed himself as ‘TBE’ – the best ever. Though there is no true consensus number one fighter of all time, few would argue that Mayweather was a generational talent and a certified all time great.

However, former four weight world champion Roy Jones Jr has revealed he does not hold Mayweather in quite as high regard as some.

In a recent interview with Podghost, Jones also explained why he feels Mayweather gets too much credit for beating the version of Manny Pacquiao that he did back in 2013.

“I would not be able to take credit for beating Pacquiao after he got knocked out by Marquez, because that’s not the same Pacquiao. That’s not the Pacquiao who was on top of his game.”

“But in society today, we’ll call that person the best fighter ever, when that’s not how it goes. That’s not reality. But in the business world, it is – look at how much money he made!”

Jones himself is considered an all time great, having won world titles from middleweight up to heavyweight during his 76 fight career.

Like Mayweather, Jones has tried his hand at exhibition contests since retiring from the professional game, famously taking on former undisputed heavyweight world champion Mike Tyson back in 2020.

As for ‘Money,’ you’d be hard pressed to find someone he wouldn’t fight if the price is right. The now 46 year old has faced reality TV stars, MMA fighters, YouTubers in exhibition bouts, which he himself has described as “legal bank robberies.”

They came in all shapes and sizes with varying skill sets. Yet, they all had the same goal in mind, take down Floyd Mayweather.

Zab Judah had always been known as a master boxer. In 2006, for at least the first two rounds, Mayweather was thrown off by his speed and combination punching. According to two of the three judges sitting ringside, Judah was the better man through two rounds. That all changed, of course, once Mayweather got it going. For the duration of their showdown, he out-quicked the trash-talking New Yorker and cruised to a unanimous decision victory.

Marcos Maidana learned from the failures of those who came before. In two matchups against Mayweather, he showed no interest in getting into a boxing match. Instead, he dug his head into his chest, threw weird and at times, not the prettiest shots, and roughed Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) up for 24 rounds. Though effective, it was another case of a fighter not having enough in their toolbox to get the job done.

Miguel Cotto had a little bit of everything. He boxed, he moved, he fought on the inside, fought on the outside, and was as tough as they come. Still, even his Hall of Fame credentials weren’t enough to eke out the win.

Although the former five-division champ never found his equal, according to Tim Bradley, he retired just in time to preserve his record.

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“Terence Crawford would beat a prime Mayweather,” Bradley told FightHype.com. “I said this five years ago. I’m telling you, he would beat him.”

As Bradley alluded to, he’s been singing the praises of Crawford for quite some time. Officially, just a few short days ago, his constant need to prop Crawford up and place him on a pedestal was validated.

Last weekend, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) turned a 50/50 showdown against Errol Spence Jr. into a lopsided beating, resulting in a ninth-round stoppage win and all four major world titles at 147 pounds being in his possession.

The Omaha, Nebraska, native was essentially flawless, leading many to believe that he’s the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet. Once upon a time, Mayweather held that distinction. But while he was at the top of his game, his world never collided with Crawford. With Mayweather happily retired, the what-if game is being played by Bradley. Although we’ll never quite know how things would’ve played out, Bradley continued to pontificate that in their hypothetical matchup, Crawford would undoubtedly be the winner.

“It’s nothing against Floyd,” continued Bradley. “Floyd is one of my favorite fighters of all time. He’s a fantastic fighter. He would be Crawford’s toughest opponent but I just think he would have enough to beat Floyd. Crawford would win a close decision.”

Carl Frampton was thoroughly impressed with Terence Crawford‘s recent victory over Errol Spence Jr. in Las Vegas. Crawford secured a ninth-round TKO and became the first fighter to unify the welterweight division.

In this dominating performance, Crawford scored three knockdowns and inflicted significant damage on Spence, leaving the combat sports community in awe.

Many observers not only hailed Crawford as the best welterweight of the current generation but also labeled him the pound-for-pound best boxer in the world.

For Frampton, Crawford‘s display against Spence surpasses any version of Floyd Mayweather at welterweight. Although Mayweather is a former five-division champion and faced some of the biggest names in the sport during his welterweight days, Frampton believes Crawford’s performance outshines Mayweather’s achievements in that weight class.

“There’s a big statement that I want to make here. The fighter of our generation, everyone will probably agree, is Floyd Mayweather,” Frampton said.

“I think that Terence Crawford is now the fighter of our generation.

“That performance beats Floyd Mayweather at his best, at welterweight, I genuinely believe that.”

While Floyd Mayweather has previously praised Crawford as the best boxer in the world, it remains to be seen how he would respond to Frampton‘s statement.

Floyd Mayweather’s famous right hand dropped Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya and Conor McGregor during his heyday.

But only Paul Wight aka The Big Show ever made ‘Money’ leave the ring in fear – even after the AEW legend had his nose legitimately shattered.

Wight, at 7ft tall, was involved in one of WWE’s most shocking moments when he faced off with 5ft 6in Mayweather.

The 50-0 boxing legend was in a short-lived boxing retirement in 2008 after beating Hatton and crossed over to wrestling.

Ahead of a no-disqualification match with Big Show at WrestleMania 24 Mayweather confronted the ‘The World’s Largest Athlete’ at WWE‘s No Way Out pay-per-view.

During an exclusive interview with sportnow, Wight confirmed that he told Mayweather to break his nose for real during their scuffle.

But the now-51-year-old also admitted that knew straight away that he would see red so he warned Mayweather to flee.

“Floyd’s amazing,” he said.

“I was upset until Shane [McMahon] stood in front of me because there was only about 15 or 20 seconds where, because of adrenaline and hot blood hitting the back of my throat because my nose was busted, that I was a little out of my mind.

“I told [Floyd], ‘hey when you do this, run, because I’m half-nuts so if I get my hands on you…'”Shane was the only one [who came over] because Shane’s got balls bigger than anybody – I remember Shane coming over and saying, ‘you ok? That was awesome!’ As only Shane could do.

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“I knew we had something special then!”

Mayweather heeded Wight’s warning, having jumped straight in a car to leave once his entourage had escorted him through the arena.

But WWE had to bring the boxer back later that night to film promotional videos for WrestleMania alongside the man whose nose he had just shattered.

Wight told talkSPORT: “Yeah he left, he was like ‘nah I don’t want any part of it’.

“I remember he peeked in the dressing room [when he later returned], I said, ‘man, good job’.

“Then he relaxed. I think he got it and he was tremendous professionally to work with because he is a showman and he understands the showmanship part of it.

“At that time the angle was so much fun because it’s really hard to do that boxer vs wrestler angle that’s been done.

“It’s an interesting dynamic and try to do it differently and also pull the fans in and make them excited I thought the way that whole thing was done and the story we told it worked out.”

Mayweather, who was reportedly paid $20million for the 12-minute match at WrestleMania, ultimately bested Wight after the hugely dramatic build-up.

But the man himself shared that the pair were actually supposed to be on the same side before injuries led to new plans being made.

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Wight added: “Originally that was supposed to be Mayweather and I against Batista and Rey [Mysterio]. It was supposed to be a tag originally.

“Rey got hurt and Dave [Batista] got hurt before we even started the angle.

“Dave had torn a lat and Rey had torn a tricep or something and both of those guys were injured and luckily it was before the angle started so we still had time to reboot.

Naoya Inoue established himself as one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world after beating Stephen Fulton last weekend. His dominant performance saw him mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

It comes as no surprise considering the Japanese boxer’s sensational form during their bout. He brutally knocked out Fulton in the eighth round to collect the WBO and WBC super-bantweight belts and become a four-weight world champion.

Despite coming up in weight and being the smaller man, it was Inoue who appeared to be the stronger fighter. And, in the immediate aftermath, Inoue called out WBA (super) and IBF super-bantamweight world champion Marlon Tapales to a four-belt shoot out at the back end of the year.

His victory over Fulton saw him being compared to another sensational Asian fighter in Pacquiao, who reached out on social media after the bout to congratulate the 30-year-old.

Pacquiao took to Twitter – which has since been rebranded as a messaging platform called X – to say: ‘Inoue has great speed and lots of power behind his punches. He’s a special fighter!’.

While others such as former super featherweight champion Jamel Herring wrote: ‘Inoue is running through weight classes like a prime Manny Pacquiao managed.’

So how does Inoue compare Pacquiao? Well, firstly, both fighters struggled with English growing up. Pacquiao managed to learn the English language later in his career but Inoue has decided to stick with Japanese.

Both fighters embody similar characteristics when it comes to pre-fight press conferences and media events. Inoue isn’t one to cause a scene or scream in someone’s face. He has always expressed himself inside the ring – much like Pacquiao.

But how do they compare on the canvas? Well, Pacquiao – who retired two years ago – remains as the only boxer to win world titles in eight divisions. He won his first title at flyweight and his last a light middleweight.

In total, Pacquiao fought 72 times with 62 wins, 8 losses, and 2 draws. Some of Pacquiao’s best fights and notable victories include wins over seven Hall-of-Famers Timothy Bradley, Juan Manuel MArquez, Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Oscar De La Hoya, Marco Antonio Barrera, and Erik Morales.

Being compared to Pacquiao is one hell of a compliment, but it places a lot of pressure on a boxer’s shoulders. Nevertheless, Todd duBoef – the president of Top Rank – believes Inoue is worthy of the comparisons.

DuBoef told Sky Sports: ‘He [Inoue] makes me speechless when I watch him. I’ve been in the business since 1993 but when you see speed, power in both hands, boxing IQ the way he has? He is just gripping.’

DuBoef went on to add: ‘He [Inoue] is as exciting a fighter as anyone who has come out of Asia. He is the most exciting thing since Manny Pacquiao in the United States.’

Pacquiao was 168 cm tall (5′ 6.14″) with a reach of 170 cm (5′ 6.93″). He fought out of the southpaw stance. He also knocked out 39 of his 72 opponents – giving him a KO percentage of 54.2.

Additionally, 23 of knockouts came in the early rounds. While 11 came in the mid rounds, and five in the later rounds. He also secured six first-round KO wins during his career.

Meanwhile, Inoue – who is 10 years and nine months into his professional boxing career – is 165 cm tall (5′ 4.96″) with a reach of 171 cm (5′ 7.32″). He also fights out of an orthodox stance.

Inoue has earned himself a 88 per cent KO rate. He has won 22 of his 25 bouts by way of knockout. 11 of those in the early rounds, seven in the mid rounds and four in the later rounds. He has three first-round KO wins.

Some of Inoue’s best performances came against Nonito Donaire, Omar Narvaez, Jamie McDonnell, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Juan Carlos Payano, Adrián Hernandez, and Fulton Jr.

As it stands, Inoue is a four-weight-division world champion. He has held 10 world titles, one of which was a vacant title win, and the rest nine were lineal championship wins.

As soon as Terence Crawford conquered Errol Spence on Saturday night, his next line of hungry young challengers began calling for their opportunity.

Crawford knocked Spence out in a sensational display to become undisputed welterweight world champion and boxing’s pound-for-pound king.

He now holds all four belts in the 147lbs division – the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO.

As such, he already has mandatory challengers waiting from a couple of these sanctioning bodies.

The WBA’s challenger is Lithuania’s unbeaten Eimantas Stanionis – a highly rated 28-year-old who will give a tough night to most top welterweights.

However, there is significantly more hype about IBF mandatory Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.

The 26-year-old American is now 31-0 with 28 KOs and regarded among the best young contenders in the sport.

Ennis boasts a high KO ratio of 87.5 per cent, but one would be foolish to see that number and begin to envisage Ennis as merely a power puncher.

Despite clearly being a hard-hitter, it is in fact Boots’ elite boxing ability which has led to him being so respected.

In his early fights, he caught the eye with his ability to switch stances, like Crawford, and land spiteful shots with consistent accuracy.

Ennis is not often a one-punch knockout artist. He instead beats his opponents up, breaks them down and finishes them by simply battering them into submission.

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In 2021, Ennis made the jump from ‘prospect’ to ‘contender’.

He did so by becoming the first man to stop Russian former world champion Sergey Lipinets.

Lipinets came into the bout having only been beaten once previously – by four-weight champion Mikey Garcia.

He lost this bout on points and was expected to be Ennis’ toughest test to date by some distance.

Remarkably, the American made this win look relatively straightforward.

Ennis’ versatile combinations were too much for Lipinets, who was floored in round four and overwhelmed for a knockout in round six.

The youngster even passed a chin check as Lipinets landed a multiple solid right hands in the early rounds which did not move him.

It was seemingly this performance, in April 2021, which caught Mayweather’s eye.

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“I feel like he doesn’t get the credit that he deserves,” he said of the prospect a month later.

“We talk about a lot of fighters at welterweight, but we don’t talk about him. I think that he’s gonna be a problem, he’s a problem right now.”

And a few months later, Mayweather again told reporters: “I’ll come on record and say that kid Jaron Ennis, ‘Boots’ – don’t sleep on him.

“Don’t sleep on him, helluva fighter.”

Ennis has picked up a further four wins since then and earned the IBF ‘interim’ belt to position himself as Crawford’s mandatory.

His most recent victory over fellow contender Roiman Villa was especially impressive as he comprehensively dismantled and knocked out his capable foe.

There is no doubt that Ennis is now ready for a world title shot, and Crawford could be ordered to defend against him in the coming months.

However, it’s also known that the champion may have to rematch Spence, who has insisted he will activate his contractual clause to force a second fight.

Paul Wight was known as the Big Show in WWE for well over a decade, and he experienced a ton of great moments in the ring. That being said, one WrestleMania memory must stand out as a huge moment, because even the build included a broken nose for The Giant.

Paul Wight has revisited the memorable angle involving Floyd Mayweather, during which the undefeated boxer broke his nose on WWE television. It turns out that this was a moment that they orchestrated.

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Leading up to their WrestleMania 24 showdown, Floyd Mayweather confronted the World’s Largest Athlete at the No Way Out pay-per-view that year. In the segment, Mayweather delivered a powerful punch to the WWE star’s face, resulting in a broken nose.

During a conversation with Sportnow, Paul Wight revealed an interesting detail about the incident with Money Mayweather. He disclosed that he had actually encouraged Mayweather to genuinely attack him during their brawl, adding an extra layer of authenticity to the memorable moment in WWE history.

“I was upset until Shane (McMahon) stood in front of me because there was only about 15 or 20 seconds where, because of adrenaline and hot blood hitting the back of my throat because my nose was busted, that I was a little out of my mind.

“I told (Floyd), ‘hey when you do this, run, because I’m half-nuts so if I get my hands on you…’

“Shane was the only one (who came over) because Shane’s got balls bigger than anybody – I remember Shane coming over and saying, ‘you ok? That was awesome!’ As only Shane could do.

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“Yeah he left, he was like ‘nah I don’t want any part of it I remember he peeked in the dressing room (when he later returned), I said, ‘man, good job.’ Then he relaxed. I think he got it and he was tremendous professionally to work with because he is a showman and he understands the showmanship part of it.

“At that time the angle was so much fun because it’s really hard to do that boxer vs wrestler angle that’s been done.”

“It’s an interesting dynamic and try to do it differently and also pull the fans in and make them excited I thought the way that whole thing was done and the story we told it worked out.”

Floyd Mayweather and Paul Wight created an amazing WrestleMania moment. Only time will tell what’s next for both of them, but Money is still cashing checks as Wight is now happily with AEW.

WWE has seen a few big crossover names go through the company over the years, but which one stands out for you as the biggest get? Sound off in the comments to let us know what you’re thinking!

It looks like Adrien Broner has had a change of heart. The Cincinnati, Ohio native is best known for his exceptional talent inside the boxing ring, a four-weight-class world champion amongst his long list of achievements.

Most recently, the 33-year-old opened up on his Instagram to his 1.1 million followers, sending a mass apology to a slew of big-timers. Additionally, he took the time to reflect on the mistakes he’s made throughout his career, especially to those in the boxing world.

Broner shared to Instagram story a lengthy message: “Mf’s let they emotions and feelings get to them. I’m just a real ni**a and I wear my heart on my sleeves so with that being said, I wanna apologize to jay-z for telling him to suck my dick for sending me a contract from @rocnation. I wanna apologize to @meekmill when we first met it was awkward but I always fucked with u. but I just didn’t think you really fucked with me as tough that’s the only reason I gave ‘Shorty’ my attention and ever since then you just really ain’t been rocking with me but I take that on the chin like a man bro I still support you 100%.”

While apologies to Meek Mill and Jay Z came as a surprise, he continues to even address Diddy and Rick Ross.

He continued: “I wanna apologize to @gervontaa. I know you love me like I came out your mom and you just want the best for me but I will see you in Vegas we go talk. I wanna apologize to @diddy cause even though it’s not in my best interest to drink but when I do decide to drink tequila I drink @casamigos or @donjuliotequila when I should be drinking @deleontequila I wanna say sorry to @rich forever cause at my last fight I told him to meet me there too early and he was just sitting there for hours so he left but I apologize big bro.”

Not sure what prompted this change of heart and forgiveness, but Broner even went as far as apologizing to his long-standing rival Floyd Mayweather.

He stated: “When we first met you told me a lot and tried to teach me a lot but I went my own way and figured it out myself. But now that I’m older I can see that you tried to help me and if I would have listened if I probably wouldn’t have got in the trouble I’ve been in but I’m grateful for my experiences.”