LAS VEGAS — Jim Gray, the long-time Showtime broadcaster, recalled a conversation he had with Larry Holmes before the Easton Assassin fought Michael Spinks in a 1986 rematch to regain the heavyweight title Spinks had taken from him seven months earlier.
Holmes had held the coveted heavyweight championship for seven years before being upset by Spinks. He went into the first fight a 6-to-1 favorite with a 48-0 record, needing just one win to tie Rocky Marciano’s all-time undefeated heavyweight record of 49-0. But then he was 48-1.
Holmes said to Gray before the rematch: “If I lose this fight, you can forget about being compared to Marciano. I’ll be harder to find than a needle in the haystack.”
Holmes lost the rematch in a controversial decision, hurting his legacy as one of the great all-time heavyweight champions.
“Look at how he’s judged by boxing history,” Gray told The Post on Thursday. “He went from undefeated to losing to a man of considerably less weight and somebody he was already given a victory against. Now you look how he is judged in history and he is hard to find.”
Floyd Mayweather Jr. faces the same kind of peril Saturday night when he faces Manny Pacquiao in a pay-per-view super fight from the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mayweather is 47-0 with 26 knockouts and proclaims himself “TBE,” as in The Best Ever. He has had almost as many “TBE” hats made to distribute and sell in Las Vegas this week as his “TMT,” The Money Team hats.
“Right now I’m TBE, and Saturday before the fight and after the fight, I’m still TBE,” Mayweather said this week.
But like Holmes, Mayweather’s career and how his legacy will be viewed will be impacted by whether he wins Saturday. Pacquiao (57-5-2 with 38 knockouts) has lost before. He also has been knocked out three times. He isn’t proclaiming himself to be the greatest of anything. He is a 2-to-1 underdog, who is smaller.
“There is no downside for Manny Pacquiao in this fight,” Gray said. “What’s the downside? That he got beat by the best fighter on the planet and he walks away with $60, $70, $80 or $100 million. There’s no downside for him.”
That’s why it’s a must-win for Mayweather.
“You can lose three fights and still be regarded as one of the greatest fighters ever,” Gray said. “But not when you get into a fight like this and you’ve never lost. Floyd has to win to make sure his legacy is cemented.”
History literally will be on the line, and not just because the bout is expected to produce about $300 million to $400 million in revenue.
“It will change the history of boxing if Manny figures out a way to win,” Gray said. “He’ll go from a really talented great fighter to someone who goes into the upper echelon because he pulled this off to go with all the titles he has won in the other divisions and his longevity.
“If Floyd wins, he goes to 48-0 and they can’t deny him. Who did he miss? He didn’t miss [Diego] Corrales. He didn’t miss [Shane] Mosley, he didn’t miss [Oscar] De La Hoya, and he didn’t miss Pacquiao.”
Mayweather covets his unbeaten record, though he seemed to downplay the impact a loss might have.
“I don’t think one fight defines my career,” he said. “I think all 47 fights played a major key. Ten years from now, I’ll still be going to get seven-figure checks and make sure my children get the best education. That’s what it’s all about. At the end of the day, my daughter can’t eat a zero. She can eat with money.”
He is the highest-paid athlete in sports. He has a mansion in Las Vegas, a house in Los Angeles, a house in Miami, a 14-passenger private jet and more cars than he can count.
All of that will provide some satisfaction long after his career is done. But to have any chance to be TBE, he will have to beat Pacquiao.