Floyd Mayweather and Saul ‘Canelo‘ Alvarez faced off on September 14, 2013 at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas.

The fight – billed as ‘The One’ – saw pound-for-pound king Mayweather take on rising star Canelo for the WBA and WBC Super-Welterweight World Titles.

It generated massive hype and captivated the boxing world, with many believing the Mexican’s youth and power could pose a serious threat to Mayweather’s dominance. That was not to be.

The fight unfolded as a masterclass in defensive boxing by Mayweather. He neutralised Canelo’s aggression on his way to a majority decision victory, though most feel a unanimous call would be much more appropriate.

As a victory for Floyd, it has aged incredibly well. Canelo is now a four-weight world champion who has dominated the super-middleweight ranks for some time and won a belt as high as light-heavy. Many feel a match-up for Mayweather with this more seasoned Alvarez would play out entirely differently.

However, speaking to Bet Online, ‘Money’ dismissed the idea that Canelo wasn’t in his prime when the pair met in the ring. In fact, he believes he was the one at the disadvantage being 36-years-old. Had it happened years earlier, he says he would have scored the knockout.

“Canelo Alvarez is a hell of a fighter. [People talk about] a prime Mayweather vs a prime Canelo. I fought the prime Canelo. I was the older Mayweather fighting the prime Canelo. If it was a prime Mayweather vs a prime Canelo, the fight wouldn’t have gone the distance.”

As for Canelo, he too believes that the outcome would have been different, telling DAZN:

“Simply, it was down to experience. If I compare that Canelo with Canelo today, they are completely different. It’d be a completely different fight now [against Floyd].”

He has taken just one more loss in his campaign, which totals 66 fights so far, and that came against Dmitry Bivol at light-heavyweight.

Floyd Mayweather fought a who’s who of boxing stars during his illustrious career.

After making his professional debut back in October 1996, Mayweather went on to become a five-weight world champion, before retiring with a perfect 50-0 record in 2017.

During that time, he took on all comers, sharing the ring with the likes of Manny Pacquiao, Canelo Alvarez, Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez and Ricky Hatton.

Despite the best efforts of them all, nobody could come close to defeating Mayweather, leading to him being widely regarded as one of the best boxers of all time.

Mayweather has now reflected on his incredible career whilst on the Million Dollaz Worth Of Game Podcast and picked the man who he felt was the best opponent he ever faced, and it was an obvious choice – Manny Pacquiao.

“It’s because of his movement. He’s a hell of a fighter, and I can see why he won so many fights, and I can see why he’s going down as a Hall of Famer. It’s just certain moves he makes.”

Mayweather and Pacquiao met back in May 2015, in an event that was dubbed as ‘The Fight Of The Century.’ The two had been linked to a showdown for a number of years, with many fans feeling it came a lot later than they would have liked.

It was a huge commercial success, setting the combat sports gate record with over 72 million dollars, and generating 4.6 million PPV buys.

Inside the ring it wasn’t the same spectacle, with Mayweather comfortably winning by unanimous decision in a rather uneventful affair.

While Pacquiao may have been the toughest opponent that Mayweather faced, he opted for a different man when naming who hit him hardest in his career.