Roger Mayweather, uncle and co-trainer of former five-division world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KO), implied that his nephew may not enjoy retirement so much after all, and could make a comeback to fight again.
In his post-fight interview with Showtime’s Jim Gray following his unanimous decision victory over Manny Pacquiao on May 2nd, Mayweather announced that his final fight would be in September.
“My last fight is in September; then it’s time for me to hang it up,” said Mayweather. “I’m almost 40 years old now, I’ve been in the sport 19 years, I’ve been world champion 18 years, and I’m truly, truly thankful, and I’m blessed.”
Mayweather has retired twice previously in his career. Following his split-decision victory over former-six division world champion Oscar De La Hoya in 2007, Mayweather retired but changed his mind just over a month later when he was called out by Ricky Hatton. After Hatton’s fourth-round knockout of Jose Luis Castillo, Hatton laid down a major diss.
“There was more action in the four rounds of this fight than Floyd showed in his entire career.”
Floyd got wind of it and responded.
“I was retired, but I’ll sign to fight Hatton right now. I’ve tried to let the things he said about me slide by, but now he’s dissing me on national TV, and I want to shut him up. I’ve never wanted to hurt an opponent like I do Hatton. Ricky Hatton cannot fight. He throws one punch at a time and then holds. Hatton is the most overrated fighter of the last 25 years.”
Mayweather went on to KO Hatton in spectacular fashion in December 2007, then retired once more – this time for a while longer – not returning until 2009.
In January 2009, it was reported that Mayweather’s IRS problems may force him to fight again. He signed to fight Mexican superstar Juan Manuel Marquez in July of that year, but suffered a rib injury in June, and was forced to postpone the fight until September. After defeating Marquez easily, Mayweather agreed to pay $5.6M in back taxes to the IRS.
Few people in the sport know Floyd better than his uncle Roger, who has served as the fighter’s trainer from time to time again. When Mayweather turned professional, his father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., was in federal prison for convictions for violating drug trafficking laws. It wasn’t until after Mayweather’s 14th fight – a second-round knockout of Sam Girard – that Floyd Sr. returned to train his son, before their infamous fallout in early 2000, to their partnership today.
Even with all the money he ever needs to have, Roger Mayweather would still be shocked if Floyd stayed retired. Some of the best boxers have returned and Floyd tends to change his mind a lot, which concerns Roger.
Speaking with On The Ropes Boxing Radio, Mayweather spoke candidly about his nephew and his impending “retirement.”
“Floyd ain’t gonna be comfortable staying in retirement. There ain’t no fighter that I know that ain’t never come out of retirement, that was still fighting. The guys like Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, all of those guys came out of retirement. If my nephew can do that and walk away from boxing, then it’s a different thing.
“I don’t think that boxing really cares if he walks away undefeated or not undefeated. If he determines his career is about having never lost, then that’s what he needs to do. He’s gonna have to make his mind up, if he’s gonna walk away and retire, or if he ain’t gonna walk away and retire. He’s gonna have to make his mind up, one way or the other. You can’t have another career if you’re still fighting, so you have to make up your mind one way or the other. That’s what he’s gonna have to do,” Mayweather said.
