Floyd Mayweather Jr. AP FILE PHOTO
Unlike most athletes who retire past the twilight of their careers, Floyd Mayweather Jr. didn’t want to wait that long for him to step away from boxing.
Mayweather, arguably the greatest fighter of his generation, retired last September with a 49-0 record.
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Many believe it won’t take long before Mayweather reconsiders his decision and break Rocky Marciano’s record, but in the former pound-for-pound king’s most recent interview, it doesn’t appear he’s headed in that direction.
“I didn’t go into the sport really focusing on breaking records, I got into the sport to display my skills. Rocky Marciano, what he did, he is a legendary champion and a great person. But I don’t want boxing to retire me. I wanted to retire from the sport with all of my faculties,” Mayweather told BoxingScene.com.
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The 38-year-old Mayweather also revealed his body has started to weaken as his career went along.
“Early on I was a huge power puncher, a knockout artist, but you have to learn to make adjustments. As I got older my body started to break down. Over half of my fights my body was not 100 percent. I was using my B-game to beat a guy like [Berto in my last fight].”
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True enough, 17 of Mayweather’s 26 knockouts came in his first 25 fights and his last stoppage was in 2011 when he stopped Victor Ortiz in controversial fashion.