Floyd Mayweather retires unconquered
Ends career with a perfect 49-0 record
Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. signed off from professional boxing as he had planned on Saturday, going out unbeaten and on his own terms as ‘The Best Ever’ after improving his career record to 49-0.
Floyd Mayweather equalled former heavyweight great Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 record with a unanimous decision victory over Andre Berto before promptly announcing his retirement.
Mayweather, who repeated his insistence in the build-up that this bout would be his last, was the heavy betting favourite and unsurprisingly dominated his overmatched foe to retain his WBC and WBA welterweight titles.
Scores of 120-108, 118-110 and 117-111 took the five-weight world champion, almost universally regarded as the pound-for-pound best in the sport, to his 49th consecutive victory in the professional ranks. “I had a game plan from the very beginning,” Mayweather, 38, said of his career during a lengthy news conference after retaining his WBC and WBA welterweight titles in the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
“I always knew what I wanted to do — be outspoken, be one of a kind. To be in the sport for 19 years and to be world champion 18 years, I’ve had a remarkable career.
“If you put them (opponents) in front of me, we see what they can do. It’s all about that IQ. I’m 10 steps ahead of any fighter. I take whatever is your best attribute and take that away from you, make you do what you don’t want to do.”
Asked whether he might ‘get that itch’ to come back for another bout, as he did in late 2009 when he returned from a 21-month ‘retirement’, Mayweather replied: “My career is over. It’s official. My 49-0 record is part of boxing.
“I’m financially secure and I’m in good health. I’m looking forward to finding the next Floyd Mayweather and seeing someone break all these records I set. Records are meant to be broken.
