Floyd Mayweather Jr. received all kinds of harsh backlash in August 2015, when he named Muhammad Ali the fifth-best boxer of all time on his personal list. The very thought of the undefeated, retired boxer placing the GOAT anywhere but first place on his list of boxing greats really irked fans of the Sweet Science and beyond.

Well, while in London on his The Undefeated Tour 2017, Mayweather once again stated that he stands the tallest over any other boxing legend, including Ali, the late global sports icon.

"We talk about these legendary fighters, talk about how they had hundred-something fights, hundred-something victories... but when you look at the history books, I still beat more world champions than any fighter in history," Mayweather began saying before a live audience, as captured by FightHype.com. "I respect these fighters because these fighters are the fighters that paved the way for me to be where I'm at, but there's no fighter in boxing that's accomplished what I accomplished. At all.

That's including Rocky Marciano and Ali in Mayweather's mind.

"When Ali was 36 and Mayweather was 36, Ali lost to a fighter with seven [wins], which was Leon Spinks [in 1978] and then we could never forget this — Ali really never beat Ken Norton. This is the truth," he continued. "And there's nothing cool about laying on the ropes, taking punishment and then being glorified for that."

Mayweather is referring to is Ali's notorious trilogy of bouts with Norton. Ali lost his first fight with Norton and although he won on a split-decision and unanimous decision in their next two meetings, many boxing fans felt like Norton did enough to win those, too.

The other part that Mayweather referred to is Ali's famed "rope-a-dope" technique, in which he rested on the ropes, while his opponents would pound on him. Eventually they would get tired from throwing hands and Ali would capitalize with a flurry of energized punches of his own. Although Ali was successful using "rope-a-dope," the punishment he received from the same technique took its toll.

"Money" added that the distinguishing factor between him and Ali is that he earned every boxing accolade possible and learned the business thoroughly without taking any punishment. 

Mayweather made sure to let his fans know that he has love and respect for everything Ali accomplished over his legendary career, but that his accomplishments couldn't unseat the greatness of himself at the top.

"Ali was a threat because he was a voice and the people hated Ali when he was a voice, but once Ali could no longer speak and he wasn't a voice, they loved him," he said. "Love me now. I don't want to be loved if I could barely walk or barely talk. That's not cool."

Mayweather made sure to reinforce that he loves boxer such as Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard and Joe Louis for paving the way for him, before adding, "But one thing I'm not going to say is that they're better than me. That's not true." 

Is Mayweather speaking facts or is he being disrespectful towards the late, great Muhammad Ali?

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