FLoyd Mayweather Jr. during the final press conference held at the KA Theatre in MGM Grand, Las Vegas Nevada on Wednesday, 29 April 2015. PHOTO BY REM ZAMORA/INQUIRER/ See more at FRAME
Floyd Mayweather Jr. defended his choice to face Andre Berto on September 12 in what the undefeated pound-for-pound fighter has insisted to be his farewell fight.
Mayweather took heavy criticism from boxing fans to experts for taking the relatively easy way out in his selection of Berto, a two-time welterweight champion but appeared to be past his championship form with a 3-3 record in his last six bouts.
READ: Floyd Mayweather Jr defends choice of Berto as his final foe
The 38-year-old Mayweather (48-0, 26 knockouts), who owns the WBA and WBC welterweight belts, is tipped to win a cakewalk as an 80-1 favorite over Berto (31-3, 24 KOs).
But Mayweather believes Berto’s recent showing doesn’t reflect how good of a fighter he still is.
The five-division world champion made the UFC as an example with fighters, who have suffered strings of setbacks, being given titles given title shots despite their mediocre records.
READ: Berto vows to kick Mayweather’s ass
“Like MMA, you have guys in the MMA who [have] 10-9 [records] and fighting for world championships,” Mayweather told BoxingScene.com. “This guy (Berto) won over 80% of his fights and it’s a problem now? Like I said before, I can only judge a guy off his last performance and every time he go out he’s exciting.” CFC