The eminent boxing scholar and authority Thomas Hauser, a Hall of Fame writer, said very few of today’s fighters have earned the right to be called great.
He blamed blind, excessive commercialism and loud, shallow publicity.
“The business of boxing today is as much about publicity and hype as it is about merit,” Hauser stated in an exclusive commentary for Boxing Scene.
Greatness has to be earned, he said.
————————So how is greatness (in boxing) achieved?
“Greatness is forged in adversity,” Hauser said.
What else?
“It takes a body of work,” he added.
————————So does this make Floyd Mayweather a certified greatest of all time with his magnificent unbeaten record?
“No, a fighter doesn’t have to be unbeaten to be great,” Hauser stressed.
He readily added that Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard proved that.
————————Hauser pushed hard and referred to the great Angelo Dundee, trainer of Ali.
“It’s what fighter does after he loses that makes him great,” Hauser quoted Dundee as saying.
Rating a fighter before his career is over is a perilous exercise in quantifying greatness, Hauser explained. Being immensely talented is different from greatness.
————————Hauser, who wrote the iconic Ali biography, considered the greatest book on The Greatest, said not every fighter who has been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame was great.
“He must possess the inquisitors that are necessary to prove greatness,” Hauser said, before zeroing in on the core of his thesis:
“Among active fighters today, Manny Pacquiao clearly meets the standard for greatness. In many ways, he’s a throwback fighter. Pacquiao has boxed almost 500 rounds over the course of 71 professional bouts. He has fought 18 times against ten fighters [including Floyd Mayweather and Oscar de la Hoya] who are either in or will be in the Hall of Fame.”
Great, indeed. INQ