Floyd Mayweather retired with a record of 50-0 and lived a lavish life outside of the ring, but there is one former world champion who believes that he could have had an impact on both of those things, if he was presented with the opportunity to fight ‘TBE’.
Mayweather claimed world titles at super-featherweight, super-welterweight, and every division in-between, becoming the fourth fighter in history to have ruled in five different weight divisions – a feat matched by two additional boxers since.
In 2017, Mayweather hung up the gloves off the back of a lucrative night’s work against UFC superstar Conor McGregor, knocking the Irishman out to extend his perfect record to 50 unbeaten professional contests.
That was one of many events that saw Mayweather break financial records, having taken part in four of the five highest grossing boxing events of all time.
Speaking to Radio Rahim, former featherweight king ‘Prince’ Naseem Hamed heaped praise onto the American, labelling him as the ‘cleverest’ fighter in boxing history.
“In my eyes, the cleverest person to ever come into the boxing game is Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather, ‘The Money Team’ baby. While everybody is hating him, don’t hate the brother, just enjoy watching the guy enjoy his fruits.
“When I watch Floyd getting out of planes, in Bugatti’s, living the life, I believe and I think that he deserves more. Why? Because nobody has seen all of them hours of blood and sweat, well not blood, but sweat, that he has put into the gym.”
However, despite the plaudits, Hamed warned that things could have been different for Mayweather if they had crossed paths.
“It’s a good job that he didn’t fight me, though, because he might not have had the career that he did.
“I will always rate him. He is not the most entertaining fighter, that I love to watch, but from a business sense in the sport, to execute something the way that he did [is impressive],
“For me, nobody will ever be as clever as Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather.”
In a shocking twist, Mayweather is now set to end a nine-year run of professional inactivity as he rematches Manny Pacquiao in September at The Sphere in Las Vegas.
