When it comes to the G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time) in boxing, there is no meaningful argument. Sugar Ray Robinson was, is, and almost undoubtedly always will be the man. Like Babe Ruth in baseball, he was a trailblazer who ignited a path so bright and deep that the sport has followed ever since. His records are mythical, impossible for any modern athlete to overcome.
But the G.O.O.T. (Greatest Of Our Time)? That debate is well worth having (as well as an acronym worth saying aloud, repeatedly, because it just sounds funny. Try it. GOOT). While Manny Pacquiao rightly sits undisputed atop the pound-for-pound lists, I place him among two other active fighters who have accumulated resumes deep and historical enough to rank among the 30 or 40 or 50 greatest fighters ever, as well as to vie for the title of G.O.O.T. ? the best active boxer from a historical perspective. Alongside Pacquiao stand his recently reactivated would-be rival Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and the ageless Bernard Hopkins.
