Mayweather ranks best 5 boxers ever; puts himself No. 1, Ali No. 5

Asked to rank the best five boxers ever during an appearance on ESPN Deportes, Floyd Mayweather Jr. not suprisingly put himself at the top of the list but somehow had Muhammad Ali ranked fifth and left boxing greats Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano off the list completely.

"Muhammad Ali lost to Leon Spinks and Leon Spinks only had seven fights when he beat him," Mayweather said of Ali, aka "The Greatest."

"Muhammad Ali was only at one weight class and Ali really lost all three times to Ken Norton. This is me just being honest. It's so hard," Mayweather said. "What Ali did is he stood for a cause in an era when African-Americans didn't stand up for their people and he stood up for a strong cause in his era.

"Ali was 'The Greatest' for standing up in an era when black people didn't stand up for each other."

Mayweather chose from a list of 10 fighters that included himself, Ali, Robinson, Louis, Marciano, Roberto Duran, Julio Cesar Chavez, Sugar Ray Leonard, Henry Armstrong and Pernell Whitaker.

He had Duran at No. 2, Whitaker at No. 3 and Chavez at No. 4.

As for why Mayweather (48-0-0, 26 KOs) considers himself the best ever, he asked the hosts whether they wanted "one reason, two reasons or three reasons?"

Referring to himself in the third person, Mayweather said "He's beaten more world champions than any other fighter (on the list). He's done it in a shorter period of time than any other fighter up here and he's done it in less fights than any other fighter up here.

"He landed punches with the highest percentage, and took less punishment ... and he's done it in five different weight classes."

Mayweather's take on Duran (103-16-0, 70 KOs): "Unbelievable. He was the guy that came from lightweight and he was the first guy to beat Sugar Ray Leonard. We can't talk about what he did in the second ("No Mas") fight. We've got to talk about from the beginning.

"See, once you make a mistake then you can go back and correct your mistake. See, Mayweather, I don't make no mistakes so I dont have to correct them today. I get the job right the first time. That's the difference between me (and the others on the list)."

Marciano (49-0, 43 KOs) didn't make any mistakes as the only undefeated heavyweight champion ever; Robinson (175-19-6-2, 109 KOs) lost just one of his first 123 fights; and Louis (66-3-0, 52 KOs) was the heavyweight world champ for more than 11 years and defended his title 25 times.

Arguments can be made for Mayweather putting Duran and Chavez (107-6-2, 86 KOs) in his top five, but Whitaker (40-4-1, 17 KOs) as the third-best boxer of all time? That's a joke. To put Sweet Pea's place in history in perspective, ESPN had him ranked No. 44 on its 2007 list of the top 50 fighters ever.

"He knew how to win," Mayweather said of Whitaker. "He didn't lose until the end of his career."

The same could pretty much be said of Ali (56-5-0, 37 KOs), who suffered three of his defeats in the last four bouts of his storied career.

Check out the entire interview below.