To Be The Best, You Have To Beat The Best

Nathan Elbaum and Noah Shelton Sports Columnists

To Be The Best, You Have to Beat The Best

In the days following Floyd Mayweather's unanimous decision victory over Manny Pacquiao the world has learned that Pacquiao fought with a severely torn shoulder, and will require surgery. Two fight fans filed a lawsuit against Pacquiao for a subpar performance, which they are claiming did not live up to the price of the fight.

The bigger problem that fans are facing, is that the two best fighters of their generation fought when neither of them are in their prime, and one was severely injured. If Mayweather wants to be viewed as one of the greatest fighters ever, he needs to have fought the best competition when they were the best. He faced Oscar De La Hoya, who started his career 31­0, but not until De La Hoya had lost 5 fights, and most of his titles. Mayweather needed to fight world champions earlier in their careers and be open to rematches to prove that he can stay the best across multiple fights. He has said that he will take up a rematch with Pacquiao when he recovers, but by that time both will be well past their prime, and Mayweather will have lost his chance to prove his status among the greatest boxers ever.

In retrospect, Muhammad Ali, known as the G.O.A.T (Greatest Of All Time) fought Sonny Liston for the World Championship twice, Joe Frazier thrice, losing the first time but coming back to win the next two, and George Foreman for the World championship.

Muhammad Ali is rightly called the G.O.A.T because he consistently fought the best in the world, and came back again and again to refight the best to continue to prove his dominance.

Boxing is not the only sport where there is controversy over being the best without the necessary competition. College Football had this problem for a long time, with their bowl system, as it only allowed two teams to play for the National Championship while there might have been multiple viable candidates leaving fans to wonder if their team could have won if given the chance.

Last year the system changed, and now four teams duke it out in the playoffs. Even though the best teams are now compared in the biggest games of the year, questions have still been raised about who the best players are. Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston, the two top picks in the NFL draft this year, went head to head in the semifinal last year with Mariota coming out on top, yet many people still view Winston as the better player.

Winston led his Florida State Seminoles to a perfect 13­0 season and the #3 seed into the first ever college playoff. Propelling himself to the number one overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft. Once the playoffs started, Famous Jameis and FSU’s weaknesses were exposed by the Oregon Ducks. Winston had five total turnovers (four fumbles and one interception), leading his team to a 59­20 loss. The self proclaimed Hall of Famer was embarrassed on one of the biggest of college football stages. Proving to everyone one that you have to walk­the­walk if you are going to talk­the­talk. Despite the poor performance in the Semifinal game, the real question surrounding Jaboo is his maturity. Accusations have popped up about Winston allegedly sexually assaulting someone. Other off­the­field issues include stealing crab legs and yelling profane, derogatory and defamatory statements about a missing 20­year­old. As the “best” player in the 2015 draft, Winston has to be the “best” on and off of the field.