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Evander Holyfield Explains Why Floyd Mayweather Can't Be The Greatest

Evander Holyfield Explains Why Floyd Mayweather Can't Be The Greatest

The former cruiserweight and heavyweight world champion thinks that Mayweather is a great fighter but can't be considered the greatest.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

Evander Holyfield says that there's one thing that Floyd Mayweather hasn't achieved in order to be considered the greatest boxer ever, that Holyfield himself had achieved.

There's no doubt that Mayweather is a modern great and he's retired with an unbeaten 50-0 record, making him the boxer with the greatest undefeated record of all time.

However Holyfield, who won world titles at cruiserweight and heavyweight, has explained that failure to become an 'undisputed' champion at any weight means 'Money' can't be considered the G.O.A.T.

"My whole thing, he is a great fighter. But to actually say that (he's beaten everyone), you've got to be the undisputed," Holyfield told Yahoo Sports.

"You need to get all the belts at one time and let everybody know that I beat everybody who had a belt and I am undisputed. You can't just say 'I got this WBC belt, I got this WBC belt and I got this WBC belt,' and all of them are WBCs and you don't have the rest of the belts to say you are undisputed.

"The whole big thing is, it's not just this one belt - it's all of these other belts. I wanted to be undisputed, where you can say that I am the undisputed champion of the world.

"Ever since [Muhammad[ Ali left, there wasn't an undisputed champion until (Mike) Tyson was the first one to be made undisputed, then Buster Douglas, then me, then Riddick Bowe and then Lennox Lewis. Lennox was the last one [at heavyweight].

"That was five guys who took the time and said 'I don't just want to be one of the champions - I want to be undisputed where everyone knows at that time that I was the very best.

"That's the only thing that Floyd is missing, because he was never the undisputed world champion in any weight division."

Lennox Lewis with four of the belts that made him an undisputed champions. Image: PA Images
Lennox Lewis with four of the belts that made him an undisputed champions. Image: PA Images

Throughout his career Mayweather won the WBC super featherweight, lightweight, super lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight, welterweight titles as well as the IBF welterweight, WBA welterweight and WBO welterweight titles and only ever held three divisional titles at once and never all four.

Of course it's still an incredible record but it means he never totally dominated a division like many of the greatest ever have.

With the politics of boxing it is very difficult to become an undisputed champion and there's currently none across any of the divisions.

Fans are hoping that Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua will meet in the near future so the heavyweight division will once again have an undisputed champion.

Who do you think will win, Fury or AJ? Let us know in the comments.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Heavyweight boxing, American boxing, Mike Tyson, Boxing News, Lennox Lewis, American sports, US Sports, Floyd Mayweather