Claim: Floyd Mayweather Jr. is considered to be the best boxer in the world.

Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. -LRB- born Floyd Joy Sinclair ; February 24 , 1977 -RRB- is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2015 , and currently works as a boxing promoter . Widely considered to be one of the greatest boxers of all time , undefeated as a professional , and a five-division world champion , Mayweather won fifteen world titles and the lineal championship in four different weight classes -LRB- twice at welterweight -RRB- . As an amateur , he won a bronze medal in the featherweight division at the 1996 Olympics . Mayweather is a two-time winner of The Ring magazine 's Fighter of the Year award -LRB- 1998 and 2007 -RRB- , a three-time winner of the Boxing Writers Association of America -LRB- BWAA -RRB- Fighter of the Year award -LRB- 2007 , 2013 , and 2015 -RRB- , and a six-time winner of the Best Fighter ESPY Award -LRB- 2007 -- 2010 , 2012 -- 2014 -RRB- .   In 2016 , Mayweather was ranked by ESPN as the greatest boxer , pound for pound , of the last 25 years . In the same year , he peaked as BoxRec 's number one fighter of all time , pound for pound , as well as the greatest welterweight of all time . Many sporting news and boxing websites ranked Mayweather as the best boxer in the world , pound for pound , twice in a span of ten years ; including The Ring , Sports Illustrated , ESPN , BoxRec , Fox Sports , and Yahoo! Sports . He is also regarded as the best defensive boxer in the sport , as well as being the most accurate puncher since the existence of CompuBox , having the highest plus -- minus ratio in recorded boxing history . He finished his career with a record of 26 wins without a loss or draw in world title fights -LRB- 10 by KO -RRB- ; 23 wins -LRB- 9 KOs -RRB- in lineal title fights ; 24 wins -LRB- 7 KOs -RRB- against former or current world titlists ; 12 wins -LRB- 3 KOs -RRB- against former or current lineal champions ; and 2 wins -LRB- 1 KO -RRB- against International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees .   In addition to his accomplishments in the ring , Mayweather is well known for being one of the most lucrative pay-per-view -LRB- PPV -RRB- attractions of all time , in any sport . He topped the Forbes and Sports Illustrated lists of the 50 highest-paid athletes of 2012 and 2013 respectively , and the Forbes list again in both 2014 and 2015 , listing him as the highest paid athlete in the world . In 2007 , he founded Mayweather Promotions , his own boxing promotional firm after defecting from Bob Arum 's Top Rank . Mayweather has generated approximately 19.5 million in PPV buys and $ 1.3 billion in revenue throughout his career , surpassing the likes of former top PPV attractions including Mike Tyson , Evander Holyfield , Lennox Lewis , Oscar De La Hoya , and Manny Pacquiao .