Declaring Floyd Mayweather (43-0) the pound-for-pound champion has become a bit cliche. Pundits and fans alike have been saying it for so long, it's easy to forget why it's true.
When he defends his WBC welterweight championship against Robert Guerrero, he'll remind everyone that just because it's cliche doesn't mean it's not true.
The pre-fight hype alone explains Mayweather's elevated status in the boxing world.
On the surface Mayweather has every reason to lose this fight. He's 36 years old, he recently went to prison and he hasn't fought in nearly a year. For anyone else, that's a career that just needs to end. The edge couldn't possibly still be there.
For Mayweather, it's nothing. He's still the prohibitive favorite to defeat Guerrero and add to his already impressive track record (and bank account).
The oddsmakers love Money's chances. Bovada has him pegged as a -700 favorite.
The experts love his chances. You'd be hard pressed to find one analyst that will go out on a limb and say that Guerrero is taking the fight with a straight face.
It's not as though Guerrero's a walk in the park either. He's a tough, experienced challenger who has held titles in two different weight classes. He won't back down from a fight and is bound to bring the fight to Mayweather in the early going.
As much as the experts love Mayweather to win, they aren't discrediting Guerrero as a challenger. It has much more to do with Money's brilliance inside the ring.
Because even though Guerrero is likely to have his moments—the fact that he's a southpaw with a rough style makes him unique enough to challenge Mayweather—the experts agree that Mayweather will have his hand raised at the end of the night.
Mayweather's legacy will forever be tied to the "0" on his record. While his detractors can say that he's hand-picked his opponents, or hasn't accomplished as much in the sport as legends that have come before him, they can't say that he lost a fight.
Where that places his him among the sport's greatest of all time has yet to be seen. As for now, his longevity and dominance should reserve him the No. 1 spot on pound-for-pound lists until he either loses a fight or decides to hang it up for good.
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