Floyd Mayweather snubbed Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali when he ranked his top five greatest boxers of all time

08/22/2024 05:56 AM

Floyd Mayweather caused controversy when he gave his ranking of the top five greatest boxers of all time.

The retired 50-0 boxing legend has for a long time called himself TBE (The Best Ever) and insisted that he is the sport’s top dog.

As such, it was no surprise to see him place himself in his top five ranking.

However, some of the other names included did raise eyebrows.

As did some of the boxing icons who were snubbed by Mayweather.

Big names like Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson were missed out from his list.

Most fans would certainly have Ali in a top five, while Tyson’s place is admittedly debatable.

Mayweather opted to include neither.

Legendary fighters such as Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Leonard were also absent.

These were both also surprising omissions given they are often in the conversation for boxing’s GOAT.

In fairness though, Mayweather did name four excellent alternatives to sit alongside himself in the top five.

Speaking on FatJoe’s Instagram Live in 2020, Mayweather said: “We’ve got to go Pernell Whitaker.

“I’mma go Roberto Duran, man you put me in a tight predicament.

“As far as with the heavyweights, if we’re going to go heavyweights, I'm going to be honest, I've got to go Larry Holmes.

“Larry Holmes beat everybody in his era.

“When Larry Holmes got beat by Tyson, he got beat by a young hungry champion and he came out of a year’s retirement and got beat by Tyson.

"I've got to say Larry Holmes, he had the basic fundamentals, he had the jab and even right now he's still living a great life because he made smart investments.

“So he was good from the beginning of his career to the end of his career.”

Concluding with his final selection, Mayweather added: "Aaron Pryor, the only reason why Aaron Pryor lost a fight was because of drugs.

“He lost only one fight because of drugs.”

Mayweather is now retired himself, but remains active in exhibition fights to this day.

On Saturday night he is set to see action in Mexico as he rematches John Gotti III in an unsanctioned contest.