The G.O.A.T.
Who is the Greatest Of All Times to you? The usual answer is Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, or someone of their magnitude. It seems to always go back to a fighter that fought in yesteryears and have long been out of the ring. In other sports the G.O.A.T. is gaged by statistics, records, and championships, but in boxing it’s not that simple. How can you gage a fighters stake at this huge ladder of success and push him past the personas of the Ali’s, Robinson’s, or even the Haglers and Durans.? Even though we all like to think we have a stake in who the G.O.A.T really is, but truthfully, The G.O.A.T is a mythical entity that is transferred from one fighter to the next, and like energy, it is never lost or destroyed, simply transferred from one place to the next.
I’ve witnessed arguments about why Ali was the greatest, or why Mike Tyson would have destroyed Ali, etc. etc. etc., but even if Mike Tyson was able to destroy Ali, does that make him less than great? Frazier did it, so should he be listed before Ali on everyone’s list? Most fighters have lost to someone at one point or another, which can be viewed as them pushing themselves to the limit, but the people who defeated them are not heirs to the spot right above them just because they won the fight. This sport is filled with passion and is a symbol of determination, so rating its employees is close to impossible when they reach a certain level. You can argue why Sugar Ray Leonard is in the Hall of Fame but you can also argue as to why Arturo Gatti should not be.
I have stopped answering the question as to who the greatest of all time is simply because it will be one person one day and then another the next, and I’m not bi-polar enough to keep up with it. I know the fighters I like, the ones I believe were great, and the ones that should find a different occupation. My favorite fighter is Lennox Lewis, the best of this era is Floyd Mayweather Jr, the greats of the past 10 years consist of Roy Jones Jr, Bernard Hopkins, Manny Pacquio, the Klitschko’s, Shane Mosley, and Tito Trinidad, to name a few.
I’m not sure who the greatest of all times is but whoever it is, they better enjoy it while it lasts because the fans of this sport have short memories and lack the loyalty that greats like Michael Jordan receive.
