forbes.com
Since the days of heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano, the numbers 49 and 0 have made up the most hallowed record in all of boxing. When Floyd Mayweather takes on Andre Berto on Saturday in Las Vegas, Mayweather will be within the graap of that 49-0 mark that few fighters ever have the chance to reach.
The fact that Mayweather chose Berto (30-3) as his opponent for his 49th fight left me disappointed. The historical significance of this fight should have yielded an opponent that actually is a threat to beat Mayweather and if this, as Mayweather claims, will be his final fight — though not many in the boxing press actually believe him — this is a sad way to end an all-time great career.
Mayweather likes to claim that he’s the best boxer of all time — even thoughhis top-five list is almost completely wrong — but his attempt at history doesn’t seem to impress one of the best heavyweight fighters in history.
“I look at it quite differently; Marciano was a heavyweight,” Evander Holyfield, who won his first 28 fights before losing to Riddick Bowe in 1992, told Forbes on Wednesday when he spoke about a new Boys & Girls Clubs of America Alumni initiative. “It’s a great deal for somebody as a heavyweight. You had [Julio Cesar] Chavez who was [87-0], but he’s a small guy. You don’t compare small guys to big guys. As a little guy, you can’t say you’re fighting anybody bigger than you. That’s what you do as a heavyweight.”
Regardless, Berto is the opponent, and since Mayweather is likely to reach Marciano’s historical mark, it’s worth taking a look at others who had the opportunity to match the man who retired after claiming Archie Moore as his 49th victim on Sept. 21, 1955.
Rocky Marciano, right, charges into his sparring partner, U.S. Toxie Hall, during a workout at at his Grossinger, NY, training camp. Date unknown. (AP Photo)
While no heavyweights have matched Marciano, Mayweather certainly isn’t the first fighter to go for 49-0.
Here are the others:
Ricardo Lopez: It’s true that Lopez was undefeated when he matched Marciano at 49 victories and then surpassed him by stopping Ratanapol Sor Vorapin in 2000, but the minimumweight from Mexico had a draw decision vs. Rosendo Alvarez two years earlier. So, even though Lopez finished his career at 51-0-1, he didn’t match Marciano because of that single blemish on his record.
