By JEFF POWELL, DailyMail.co.ukFloyd Mayweather Jnr is not only the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world today - better even than Manny Pacquiao - but he is the greatest boxer ever, greater even than Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson.
Who says so?
Why, Floyd Mayweather Jnr himself. That's who.
Money, not Modesty, is Mayweather's ring moniker and there is no sign of faux humility when he evaluates his own place in the spectrum of all-time pugilists.'Ali was a great fighter,' he acknowledges, 'but I'm better. Robinson was a great fighter, but I'm better.'
So much for the two legends who monopolise most of the discussions when connoisseurs of the hardest game wrangle over who is the all-time lord of the ring.
As for Pacquiao, who has supplanted Mayweather in most assessments of the mythical pound-for-pound champion of the moment, apparently he cannot even be certain of a future place in boxing's Hall of Fame.
Nor, for that matter, can the man he faces in Las Vegas this coming Saturday night.
Sugar Shane Mosley - the interim opponent prior to Mayweather-Pacquiao, if that blockbuster ever happens - is damned thus with faint praise: 'He's a solid middleweight.'
So dismissive is Mayweather of Mosley's standing as reigning WBA world welterweight champion that he is not bothering to compete for that belt when they enter the ring at the MGM Grand Garden arena.
Money is his nickname and he is refusing to part with that small portion of his fortune which he would have had to pay the World Boxing Association to sanction this as a title fight.
'Why should I bother with a belt?' he asks. 'Just beating Mosley will be enough to enhance my legacy.'
Actually, it would have done more for his reputation had these two fought a few years ago, when the now 38-year-old Mosley was in his prime.
Although not enough to dissuade most of us from the opinion that Mr Ali is The Greatest, and probably always will be.
That belief is unruffled by Mayweather's dismissive suggestion that Ali and Robinson are only defied because they took part in 'hundreds of fights'.
He is right to assert that the advent of pay-per-view television - with the networks needing months to sell each product to their subscribers - has played its part in reducing the number of bouts demanded of the modern-day boxer.
But while that is not his fault - and even though he regrets that the regulations now prevent him proving himself a throwback to the 15-round warriors of yore - does his 40-fight unbeaten record really stand comparison with the near-100 contests won by Julio Cesar Chavez before his first loss?
One hallmark of a great champion is his ability to come back from defeat but with Mayweather boxing so infrequently - and tending to select older (Mosley) or smaller (Marquez) opponents when he does so, we may never get the chance to judge him in that context.
Not unless he meets Pacquiao - yes, smaller, but equipped with the power to unhinge larger men - and that fight still seems as remote as it did the moment Mayweather threw a sudden demand for blood-testing into the negotiations.
So greater than Ali? Dream on.
Froch threatens to quit Super Six as promoter denies Abraham agreement
The agony for Carl Froch deepened on Monday when German promoter Wilfried Sauerland categorically denied shaking hands on a deal for the Nottingham Cobra's decisive super-middleweight clash with Arthur Abraham to take place in England.
The Super Six series to unify the world championship - the WBC version of which Froch lost to Mikkel Kessler in Saturday's epic battle in Denmark - provides for a mix of home and away matches in the three fights required of each contestant in the group stage.
Froch, having won at home to Andre Dirrell and lost away to Kessler, has been counting on home advantage against Abraham. Now Sauerland, who promotes both Kessler and Abraham, is pressing for either a neutral venue or Berlin for Abraham, a Germany-domiciled Armenian.
Mick Hennessy, Froch's promoter, claims they had a gentleman's agreement for the fight to take place in Nottingham, saying: 'There were witnesses.'
Sauerland says: 'There is nothing in the contract to that effect, nor was there any verbal deal or handshake. The only stipulation is that it happens in Europe, with the best financial situation taking preference.
'Arthur has already had to travel all the way to California to fight Andre Ward, while Froch had a private jet for his short trip to Denmark. A reasonable compromise would be a neutral venue, otherwise we should go for the most rewarding venue.'
Froch has threatened to pull out of the Super Six if he is forced to travel again, although he is unlikely to withdraw as he is on at least a million pounds per fight in the series.
Both he and Abraham need a win to be certain of qualifying for the even more lucrative semi-finals. Froch, having lost his unbeaten record as well as his WBC belt to Kessler by a unanimous points decision, is wary of being on the wrong end of a home-town verdict against Abraham, who is hugely popular in his adoptive Germany.
The negotiations, which will include America's Showtime television network who are bankrolling the tournament, now threaten to be as aggressive as the fight.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
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