Floyd Mayweather has fallen out of love with boxing. Undefeated after 48 professional bouts, he does not even watch boxing, AFP reports.
“At one particular time, I loved the sport of boxing,” he says. “I wanted to go to every fight. But I’ve just lost the love of the sport.
“My love and my passion for boxing is not the same, like it once was, but this is my job, to go out there and be at my best when doing my job,” he said after beating Manny Pacquiao to unify the welterweight titles.
“I don’t watch boxing any more, unless it’s someone coming to my gym,” he said. “I don’t watch boxing like that.”
Mayweather insists that breaking Rocky Marciano’s record of 49-0 is not a goal for him. He says he’ll retire after one more fight, in September.
It may not even be a title bout. He may just relinquish all his belts.
Who his last opponent will be, and whether Pacquiao might get a rematch, wasn’t a topic he cared to entertain immediately after the fight in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Mayweather, now the WBC, WBA and IBO welterweight champion, says it is not in his make-up to lose. But there’s one fight he just can’t seem to win. All his achievements have not earned him a place in the hearts of boxing fans.
He is not loved the way Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Leonard were loved.
He burnished his perfect ring record and reputation as a consummate craftsman with the points victory over Pacquiao but departed from the MGM Grand Garden Arena to a chorus of jeers.
But the 38-year-old champion remained defiant. “A 19-year career with no punishment on the body, and the money …” he said later.
Perhaps it’s no wonder Mayweather sounded tired. “I don’t think I’ll miss the sport of boxing,” he said. But he will no doubt remain involved through his Mayweather Promotions company and the young fighters who train at his Las Vegas gym.
Source: Punch
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