Mayweather or Pacquiao?

Ring Magazine already made its case for the fighter of the decade --Pacquiao-- and most of their readers seem to agree. A pair of Canadian fans capture it perfectly: 

Martin
Calgary
Canada

There's no debate here as far as I'm concerned. Floyd was great at 130, peaking with his masterful performance over Corrales. He hasn't put on that level a performance against that level a fighter (borderline hall of famer) since. That about says it all. At 135, he went 1-1 (in my eyes) against Castillo. At 40 and 47 he fought no one of note (I could care less that Baldomir was the "lineal champ"). Corrales and Castillo aside, how many of Floyd's victims went on to score a significant win post-Floyd? No one from 140 to 154. Why? They were all past it, or never that good to begin with. Contrast that with Pac's resume starting with the first Barrera fight, and it's no contest.

Jeffrey
Vancouver
Canada

Since 2003, Floyd Mayweather Jr. had 10 fights against whom? Only two of his opponents were famous, De La Hoya and Hatton. Zab Judah and Arturo Gatti are not in the same league as Barrera, Morales and Marquez. The remaining five fighters are Sosa, N’dou, Bruseles, Corley and Mitchell. Who are they? If I may also add, there were only five TKOs, four unanimous decisions and one split decision against De La Hoya, who by the way took a bad beating from Pacquaio.

Manny Pacquaio meanwhile fought 16 times. He beat convincingly the second most famous fighter of all time next to Ali, Oscar De La Hoya. He prevailed over greats Barerra and Morales twice (he also lost once to Morales) and also beat another potential great, Juan Manuel Marquez. Also, let's not forget the May 2nd bout against Ricky Hatton that elevated Pacquaio to the next level. Pacquaio has had four KOs, seven TKOs and five Unanimous decisions.

Contrast that to the typical Mayweather argument:

Maurice
Philadelphia, Pa.
USA

Mayweather won major titles in five different weight classes.

1. Dismantled the late great Diego “Chico” Corrales. Diego ruled the lower weight classes at that time. Diego was the bigger man!

2. Destroyed a newly renovated champ in Gatti, after Gatti learned to box from McGirt! Gatti was champ and the bigger MAN! Floyd moved up and you know the rest.

3.Zab Judah was the undisputed welterweight champ. Floyd gave him a BOXING CLINIC!

4. Baldomir. The man who beat the undisputed-champ Judah. Floyd made him look silly!

5. Beat a much BIGGER and YOUNGER and HUNGRIER De La Hoya. KO’d a younger, fully confident Hatton. Floyd already damaged Hatton's confidence as a fighter. Pacquiao simply finished the LEFTOVERS!

ALL THIS ADDS UP TO FLOYD STILL AT NO. 1.

Or, if you want to veer into the clinically deluded: 

I feel that prime 147 pound Mayweather Jr. beats a prime 147 pound Ray Robinson. Same goes for Ray Leonard. Prime Roberto Duran at 135 pounds, Mayweather Jr. boxes circles around him.

This is just silly. The mark for being a great fighter is beating great fighters. Unless you somehow include Judah (who was in the midst of a 2-4-1 streak) and Arturo Gatti (who would be knocked out by both Carlos Baldomir and Alfonso Gomez inside of two years), there's simply no argument. Pacquiao consistently stepped up to his toughest possible challenges; Mayweather avoided his. For the most part, Pacquiao beat the best of his division; for the most part, Mayweather didn't.