Muhammad Ali Responds To Floyd Mayweather And George Foreman’s Comments

In the midst of the Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather excitement, which has seemed to ignite a passion for boxing that has been unseen for quite some time, many folks have been weighing in on the boxers’ legacy: particularly, where the two stand on the all-time list.

This notion reached a fever pitch after Mayweather’s interview with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith aired last week. During their conversation, he disagreed that Muhammad Ali is the greatest of all-time because the man only fought in one weight class.

“No one can ever brainwash me to make me believe that Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali was better than me,” Mayweather told Smith. “But one thing I will do: I’m going to take my hat off to those guys and respect those guys because those are the guys that paved the way for me.”

He even used Leon Spinks as proof. The fighter lost to Ali in their initial bout in 1978, but beat him just a few months later. “Spinks beat him when he had seven fights,” he said. “They’d never put a fighter in there with Floyd Mayweather with seven fights.”

Now, it is understandable why Mayweather thinks this way. As Ronda Rousey pointed out, to stay on top, you have to believe you are the best. However, George Foreman, legendary boxer and grill salesman, told TMZ Sports that he believes Mayweather is better than him and Ali.

“Pound for pound, Floyd is better than me and Muhammad Ali ever were,” Foreman said to TMZ Sports. “This is a better generation by far. They’re smarter, they’re stronger, they’re overall just better fighters… We were good and we liked the attention that we got. But boxing is on a different level. This is an amazing generation.”

What did arguably the greatest fighter and trash talker of all-time have to say about this?