Superstar Floyd Mayweather is currently on his U.K tour, speaking with those fans who have shelled out the cash to see and hear the 50-0 “T.B.E” speak about his Hall of Fame career and ask him questions. IFL TV were there in Essex this week, to capture Mayweather’s hour-long show. Clad in a tracksuit and seeming to enjoy the U.K fans who were in attendance, this despite some heckling and some foul language being used, Floyd spoke in some depth about British fighters.
Floyd spoke about Ricky Hatton, who he of course defeated by tenth-round KO back in 2007, and Mayweather also spoke about two British names he could at one time have faced but never did – in Naseem Hamed and Amir Khan.
Here’s what Floyd had to say about Hatton, Hamed and Khan:
“I take my hat off to Ricky Hatton,” Mayweather said. “He was a tough, tough competitor. I use one word to describe Ricky Hatton – heart. But when the history books are written, they have to make sure they say this: I’m the only fighter in history to beat 16 world champions. The fight with Ricky Hatton was crazy – the build-up. On our press tour, I told someone from my team, each day, to go out and buy some beet for Ricky Hatton! Put that Budweiser in front of him (laughs). We were fighting, and it was close, and I used a perfect move on him and I got the job done. But he was a very tough competitor. I don’t think he was mentally the same after he lost to me.
“Prince Naseem Hamed, a helluva fighter, a heluva showman. He was at 126 [pounds] and I was at 130 – and no fighter wanted the smoke when I was at 130! But Hamed is still a close friend of mine and he had a helluva career.
“Khan, we can say this – see what I did to Canelo, and see what happened when he fought Canelo. Khan can definitely dish it out, but you have to be able to take it. Myself, I don’t believe in taking punishment, which is why I can stand here and talk and tell my story.”
And the fans up close and personal with the 43 year old enjoyed hearing the all-time great tell his story. But is it finished yet? We’re heard the talk of how Mayweather may return for another boxing/MMA crossover type bout later this year, maybe even two. Floyd loves picking up those $100 million pay cheques, as he told the fans in Essex. Might “Money” bag another one before he finally retires?
And as for that Mayweather-Hamed fight, which could possibly have taken place in 1998 or 1999, what a fight that one would have been. Who knows, maybe Mayweather and Hamed would have seen the need to fight twice, maybe even three times? What a shame this rivalry never got off the ground.