AP
Floyd Mayweather Jr. could go down in history as one of the best, and least liked champions in the sport of boxing.
And even as he enjoys his retirement, Mayweather still couldn’t escape the criticisms thrown his way.
In an interview with Fighthype.com, the retired five division champ lashed out anew at the boxing fans who continue to focus on his faults outside of the ring instead of his accomplishments inside it.
“While you guys are saying, ‘I hate Floyd Mayweather! (Expletive) Floyd Mayweather! I don’t like Floyd Mayweather.’ At the end of the day, every month, I get a seven-figure check and I’m very comfortable and I’m happy with that,” he said. “It’s not bragging, not boasting. I’m happy because I went out there and earned it the hard way, the good old American way. I went out there and worked and busted my ass. It’s never enough, never enough.”
Mayweather (49-0, 26 KOs) hung up his boots for good last September, capping off his storied and unblemished boxing career with a twelve-round unanimous decision win over Andre Berto.
However, his legacy has been tainted with the way he promoted himself, his attitude towards peers and the sport’s legends, and his past marital issues which led to assault charges.
“You know, when people get to saying, ‘(Expletive) Floyd! I don’t like Floyd! He’s a woman beater! He can’t read.’ Find out if you still got to work, if you still got to punch a clock, because I can kick my feet up and travel the world every day,” he said. “I didn’t rob, steal, or kill nobody to get to where I got to. Simple and plain! Hard work and dedication, prayers and belief and a good team.”
That’s why Mayweather understands that whether or not he chose WBA, IBO, and IBF middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) for his final match, he would still be reviled by the public.
“Once I fought and beat everybody, first it was, ‘Mayweather was scared of this guy!’ What I do? I beat him! ‘Mayweather’s scared of that guy!’ I beat him! ‘Mayweather’s scared of this guy!’ I beat him! It’s getting to a point that if me and Triple G would have fought when I was fighting, I would’ve beat him and then guess what? There’s going to be an excuse,” he said.