I didn't think he looker larger, just more healthy. Floyd is naturally around 147-150 while those two guys are naturally 160+ so while they have to cut weight, Floyd doesn't very similar to De La Hoya at 154.
I don't think most people see him in the top 20 range either just because other guys have much better resumes. Everybody has knocks on them: low skill level, number of losses, or resume. Floyd's is the third one.
I don't it tarnishes his legacy at all. Cheating tarnishes resumes (Margarito will never recover from the padded glove debacle). Not having a great resume will just be the one negative working against him, something everyone has to one degree or another.
He never ducked tarver or darius. In fact, Michalczewski was ducking him. Roy was the top fighter in the world while Michalczewski was a relative unknown who rarely left Germany and seemed to always get the benefit of the doubt from local judges. Plus the dollar was more valuable than the Euro at the time so the onus was on Michalczewski, not Jones to make that fight.
Who the hell was Antonio Tarver to be ducked? When he was the top contender, he got a shot and lost. He only got a rematch because he was the first guy to win 3 rounds off Jones in years.
I have to strongly disagree. For all his shortcomings, Ruiz was a legitimate heavyweight champion who won his title in the ring (as opposed to it being given to him by a sanctioning body or beating another unranked heavyweight like Pacquiao won his jr middleweight title).
Boy, if Roy had made and won those fights with Holyfield and/or Tyson, they would be building a new wing on the Boxing HoF.
One thing about the idea that Floyd left a lot of fights on the table in different weight classes:
Is this being said with the understanding that until the De La Hoya fight, no one wanted to fight Mayweather. He was the ultimate high risk-low reward opponent out there. He wasn't even selling out the big halls in Las Vegas and that was with significant names like Corrales, Castillo, and Judah. Kostya Tsyzu didn't want to fight him. Arum was keeping him from Cotto and Margarito because he promoted all three. Mosley went on vacation instead of fighting him.
Don't revise history to make your point.
I also reject the idea he hasn't dominated the welterweight division. Shane Mosley was the top welterweight when they fought. Zab Judah was the top welterweight when they signed to fight and was still a champion when they fought. Carlos Baldomir was the guy who beat Judah and he was the top welter when they fought. Victor Ortiz, same. He didn't plow through the number 2,3,4 guys, he fought whoever was on top of the welterweight division. Even Hatton, not a top welter but still the WBA champion of the division and undefeated. He looked bad against Collazo but a lot of orthodox fighters look bad against southpaws (don't some of you still insist that Mayweathter is vulnerable to southpaws despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary?).
Great objective post and not because I agree with all of it. I actually disagree with the part about Floyd dominating welterweight but that's a pretty good argument you made. I see domination differently. To me dominating a division is like what Naseem Hamed did in his prime. He unified by knocking out every single other champ at 126 and even took care of the top 5 contenders too in devastating fashion. Jones was similar at 175. Ricardo Lopez also did this. The way Floyd just takes time off, is barely active in the division, doesn't defend titles, missed several top 3 guys in the division, just doesn't seem like the picture of a guy dominating his division.