One of the most debated topics in sports is who belongs on the Mount Rushmore for specific sports. Its a way to debate your top four or four most impactful athletes in a certain sport.

The hardest sport to make a Mount Rushmore for is boxing because it has such a long history that is abundant with greatness in multiple weight classes. So, how can I determine the Mount Rushmore of boxing?

The Stone Criteria

Was your greatness undisputable?

For any boxer to qualify for my Mount Rushmore, there greatness has to be something that all sensible fans and pundits agree on. The fans and pundits may not agree on there rank among the greats but they agree that they belong among the greatest to ever do it. Does their resume measure up against the others who may be in contention to be on the Mount Rushmore?

What was their lasting impact?

Did the boxer have an impact on the sport both in and out of the ring? Does his legacy go beyond his generation? Did he do something that was rare or memorable during his career?

This Mount Rushmore is not just for the most talented boxers or the ones with the best resume. Its for the boxers who combined talent, resume, and impact on a level higher than any of their peers.

Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has to be on the Mount Rushmore of boxing. He finished his career with a record 50 wins and zero losses with 27 wins by way of knockout. During his career he beat a who’s who of boxers including, Genaro Hernandez, Diego Corrales, Jose Luis Castillo, Philip Ndou, Arturo Gatti, Zab Judah, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez, Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Canelo Alvarez, and Manny Pacquiao among others.

The Grand Rapids, Michigan native is the most successful boxer of all-time from a monetary and visual perspective. Floyd Mayweather has been a participant in five of the top ten highest selling boxing pay-per-views of all time.

Floyd Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao is the highest grossing pay-per-view of all time. It grossed over 410 million dollars due to having more than 4.6 million buys.

Mayweather became boxing’s number one villain and turned the hate into big business. The fan’s hunger to see him lose turned Mayweather into must see television and showed future generations what is possible for a boxer from a business perspective.

Muhammad Ali

In the eyes of most boxing fans, Muhammad Ali is consider the greatest of all time. The reason so many fans see him as the G.O.A.T. is the combination of his in-ring prowess along with his unmatched charisma and impact on society.

Ali finished his career with a record of 56-5 with 37 wins by knockout. He used his unique combination of boxing IQ, speed, and power to defeat boxers like, Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson, Ernie Terrell, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, George Foreman, Ron Lyle, and Earnie Shavers among others.

Ali had a very unique combination of speed, power, and fluidity that you don’t normally see in the heavyweight division. He moved with the speed of a middleweight while still having true heavyweight power and also had the boxing knowledge to know how to use those unique talents in a great way.

The Louisville, Kentucky native is also a huge figure in the civil rights movement because of how outspoken he was about social issues. The impact he had socially along with his greatness in the ring is why he is a permanent figure on the Mount Rushmore of boxing.

Roy Jones Jr

We have not seen and may never see a boxer with the combination of speed, timing, boxing acumen, creativity, power, defense and showmanship that Roy Jones Jr put on display during his prime.

Jones looked to be untouchable from 1990-2004, in that fourteen year run he was able to win world titles in four different weight classes, middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight.

The Pensacola, Florida native defeated the likes of Bernard Hopkins, James Toney, Vinny Pazienza, Montell Griffin, Virgil Hill, Eric Harding, John Ruiz, Antonio Tarver, and Felix Trinidad among others. His career ended with a record of 66-10 with 47 wins by knockout. Nine of his 10 losses came after he turned 34 years old. The one loss that came prior to him turning 34 was by disqualification.

Jones, like many boxers, stayed around too long and took too many losses late his career to be in the greatest of all time conversation but he may be the “best of all-time.” An argument can be made that Jones was the most talented boxer any of use have seen, during his run in the 90s and early 2000s.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez

The only active boxer on this list is Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. He has a great argument to be the greatest Mexican boxer of all-time. Mexico has a very rich history in boxing and the greatest Mexican boxer of all-time, deserves to be on boxing’s Mount Rushmore.

Canelo is currently 63-2-2 with 39 knockouts. He has won world titles in four different weight classes, super welterweight, middleweight, super middleweight, and light heavyweight.

Canelo has one of the best resumes in boxing history with wins over Carlos Baldomir, Shane Mosley, Austin Trout, Erislandy Lara, James Kirkland, Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, Liam Smith, Gennadiy Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs, Sergey Kovalev, Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders, Caleb Plant, and Jermell Charlo among others.

He has been the face of boxing in the post Floyd Mayweather era and opened up opportunities for others to become big time stars in the sport. He is still making big time moments in the sport as he is set to face one of the pound for pound best in the sport in Terence Crawford on September 13 on Netflix. This type of fight on Netflix could open up opportunities for others to fight on the bigger networks and streaming platforms. Canelo’s impact will be seen well after his career is over.

Do you agree with my boxing Mount Rushmore?