Pound-for-pound boxing king Floyd Mayweather will put up his perfect 47-0 record Saturday night when he faces Manny Pacquiao in the most highly anticipated boxing match of this generation.
Mayweather will tell anybody who listens he's the best ever, and he hopes to prove it by adding Pacquiao's name to his list of victims, which already includes a murderer's row of talented fighters ranging from featherweight to welterweight and everything in between.
Mayweather can be a braggart, but there's no denying the work he's put in the ring, especially considering the level of competition he's been facing since he was a teenager.
But what fights have truly defined Mayweather as a boxer? Let’s look at the five most important of his career.
5. Mayweather vs. Arturo Gatti -- June 25, 2005
Mayweather entered his bout with Gatti as the prohibitive favorite, but it was still a coming-out party for the up-and-coming superstar long before the days of his “Money Mayweather” persona.
The fight took place in Atlantic City, N.J., where Gatti fans packed the arena, but they didn't get to enjoy the bout for long. Mayweather blasted their hero early in the first round and never let up.
Mayweather took advantage when Gatti turned to complain to the referee, cracking him with a shot that sent him to the ground. From that moment on, Gatti was never the same.
Mayweather's assault continued into the sixth round, when he peppered Gatti with combination after combination until the bell sounded. After that round, Gatti's corner stopped the bout to prevent further damage.
Mayweather outlanded Gatti 168-41 in one of the most lopsided performances of his career and rocketed into the national spotlight as the new king of boxing.
4. Mayweather vs. Jose Luis Castillo 2 – Dec. 7, 2002
The second fight between Mayweather and Castillo wasn't as much about performance as it was a proving ground for the young champion as he started to make bigger and bigger waves in the sport.
Mayweather beat Castillo eight months earlier, but not without a lot of controversy about the final scores. Mayweather complained that he had a shoulder injury going into the fight, which prevented him from throwing many of his best combinations and punches over the course of 12 rounds.
He quickly accepted a rematch with Castillo, who was more physically imposing and almost 10 pounds heavier once they stepped in the ring.
Castillo did his best to bully the smaller man with hard shots throughout the fight, but this was the moment Mayweather really started to develop his elusive style that combined lateral movement and quick counter-punching combinations.
The fight didn't have many thrilling moments, but it was a victory Mayweather had to have after many believed he lost the first fight to Castillo. It would be nearly five years before another fight really pushed Mayweather.
3. Mayweather vs. Diego Corrales – Jan. 20, 2001
Mayweather's career is filled with great memories, but possibly the most defining performance was his 2001 TKO victory over power-punching beast Diego Corrales.
Mayweather and Corrales engaged in some of the nastiest trash talk boxing had seen since the days of Mike Tyson, but while both competitors' mouths were moving before the fight, inside the ring only one of them was talking.
Mayweather’s blinding speed and crippling combinations battered Corrales, who continued to plod forward looking for strikes despite Mayweather beating him to the punch in almost every exchange.
Mayweather dropped Corrales three times in the seventh round and two more times in the 10th before getting the TKO. It was a shocking performance considering Corrales was undefeated and had never been knocked down entering the fight.
To this day, Mayweather has never looked as good in any one fight as he did against Corrales.
2. Mayweather vs. Juan Manuel Marquez – Sept. 19, 2009
Following a brutal knockout of British fighter Ricky Hatton in 2007, Mayweather announced his retirement, and it appeared it might stick.
But after a 21-month absence, he was back against Marquez, a perennial contender. Though the bout was marred by Mayweather missing weight during a fight in which he was already the bigger challenger, it was still a measuring-stick matchup -- especially after Marquez took Pacquiao to the limit on two occasions prior to this meeting.
The fight turned into a mismatch in a hurry as Mayweather knocked down Marquez in the second round and then continued the onslaught for the rest of the fight.
Marquez landed only a miserable 12 percent of his punches, and Mayweather countered with 59-percent accuracy as he pummeled Marquez for a unanimous-decision win while reclaiming his spot at the top of the sport.
1. Mayweather vs. Oscar De La Hoya -- May 5, 2007
The most important fights aren't always the most impressive, but there has been no bigger moment during Mayweather's career than when he went up in size to face light-middleweight champion De La Hoya in 2007.
The hype surrounding the matchup was something boxing hadn't seen in years.
HBO promoted a documentary-style series called "24/7" that followed Mayweather and De La Hoya in the weeks leading up to the fight, and it only served to further amp up intensity for a card that would set a pay-per-view record with 2.4 million purchases.
The fight itself was a bit of a letdown. Outside of a few moments in which De La Hoya was able to trap Mayweather against the ropes while trying to bully him with sheer size, he struggled to put any kind of offense together. Mayweather did a great job of counter-punching, and by the late rounds he took over with faster combinations and conditioning as he wore down the older De La Hoya.
Following the fight, Mayweather became a household name and the biggest-money draw in all of boxing. When he breaks the pay-per-view record this weekend against Pacquaio, he should thank De La Hoya for helping to take him to another level with this matchup.
