“Retired” boxing master Floyd Mayweather Junior might well go down in history as the finest defensive fighter of all time, and while such a distinction would certainly please Mayweather, he is already very happy – relieved, even – to have been a defensive fighter throughout his long career. Mayweather might not get the love a classic slugger gets (think Arturo Gatti or Matthew Saad Muhammad) and he has often been called “boring” and a “safety-first” ring operator, but Floyd doesn’t seem to care – he is happy he was the way he was (hard to hit) and today in full possession of his faculties as a result.
Speaking with The L.A Times, the 49-0 great said he looks at the one and only Muhammad Ali, and his uncle, Roger Mayweather, and they give him a stark reminder of how dangerous boxing can be; especially if you stick around too long.
“People have to realise, when I look at my uncle Roger, and even Muhammad Ali, boxing is wear and tear,” Mayweather, who turns 40 next February, said. “When I look at it, I’m really thankful I was a defensive fighter. I have all my faculties, a sharp mind, and I know who I am.”
If Mayweather stays “retired,” he will have been one of the lucky ones. Boxing is littered with tales of woe regarding great fighters who went on too long and/or launched terribly unsuccessful comebacks. But that’s the big question: will Mayweather risk his perfect record, maybe even his health, by coming back for one more fight? Mayweather told The L.A Times he is happy in retirement and that he “doesn’t need to box,” but he added, almost as an afterthought, how he would consider coming back, “for the right price.”
Of course, with Mayweather being as smart and as calculated as he has been throughout his career, it would also have to be the right opponent. No way would Floyd come back against any fighter he wasn’t sure he would defeat. But any fighter, no matter how great, no matter how careful, can make a mistake (comebacks can go badly wrong – who, for one off the top of my head example, ever thought the great Sugar Ray Leonard would be stopped by Hector Camacho in his return at age 40?)
Will Mayweather push his good fortune, and his luck, too far if he does fight again?