Floyd Mayweather barely put a foot wrong during his unblemished 50-0 professional career.
Only a handful of fighters were able to ask questions of the self-proclaimed ‘Best Ever’ at the peak of his powers.
There was his nip-and-tuck affair with Oscar De La Hoya in 2007, a shaky moment against Shane Mosley in 2010 and, of course, Mayweather’s inaugural encounter against Jose Luis Castillo in 2002, which many fans felt he lost.
But outside of those three fights, Mayweather remained in almost complete control throughout his stint in the paid ranks.
Other generational greats he shared the ring with were Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto and Canelo Alvarez.
It is therefore a massive compliment to former welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr, who Mayweather sparred in 2013, that he was singled out as one of the best fighters the boxing icon had faced in the ring.
“Errol Spence, he’s a hell of a fighter,” Mayweather told Fight Hype.
“One thing about me, I’m always going to give it to you 100 per cent you know.
“And in training camp, when I was training for my fight with [Robert] Guerrero, Errol Spence gave me solid work.
“He’s a very young, tough competitor, so if I sit here and not give that young kid props, it’ll be bad.
“Even though after doing my time I’d been off a year, he took me to the limit, he made me work in the boxing gym, I like kids like that.”
Spence unified the WBA, WBC and IBF welterweight titles in the late 2010s and early 2020s before losing all three major world titles to Terence Crawford in a much-anticipated, undisputed clash in July 2023.
‘The Truth’ hasn’t fought since that fateful night although he is reportedly close to agreeing on a deal to box WBO and WBC super welterweight champion Sebastian Fundora in early 2025.
However, newly appointed WBO president Gustavo Olivieri has informed talkSPORT.com that only the WBC title will be on the line should that fight make it off the negotiation table.
If Fundora beats Spence then he will keep hold of his belt.
But should he fall to defeat then WBO interim champion Crawford will be elevated to full world champion without throwing a punch.
“During the WBO convention at the ratings proceedings which I was presiding at after being elected, TGB Promotions through their council, Phile Weiss (lawyer) petitioned that Errol Spence be installed within the top ten at 154lbs,” said Oliveri.
“The purpose was to request that he be allowed to fight Fundora for the [WBO] title and he presented his case with strong arguments.
“But there are some factors that are undisputed: he’s been inactive for two years, he’s coming off a brutal TKO loss to Terence Crawford and he has never fought at 154lbs nor been rated at 154lbs.
“So I have those facts that are undisputed… You may say ‘Errol Spence is one of the biggest names at 154lbs, it’s a great fight against Fundora’.
“But based on those facts and the other fighters that are waiting their turn at 154lbs, having fought at 154lbs plus their level activity, their suitable opposition, having won regional titles, having faced rated contenders.
“If I allow Spence to fight Fundora immediately for the title with those facts…
“Would that be a good precedent to set? It would open doors for other petitions, ‘Oh you did this in the past, why are you not giving the chance to another fighter?’
“And we have done this in the past, Tim Tszyu wanted to fight Keith Thurman and we didn’t approve Thurman.
“And we’re not going to sanction that fight [Fundora vs Spence]. Fundora may fight Spence but it will be considered a WBO non-title fight…
“We’re going to allow him to proceed with that fight with the condition that if he loses, the title is vacated automatically and Crawford elevated to full champion status.”
