Mayweather - I'm better than Muhammad Ali
Floyd Mayweather Jr. refused today to back off earlier comments
declaring himself a better fighter than Muhammad Ali. Mayweather said he
respects Ali's great career and the things he did outside the ring. But
he said he believes he has done as much in boxing as the legendary
former heavyweight champion ever did, without the losses that Ali
suffered in his career.
"He called himself The Greatest and I call myself TBE (The Best
Ever)," Mayweather said. "I'm pretty sure I'll get criticized for what I
said, but I could care less. I could care less about the backlash."
Mayweather had earlier said that he was better than both Ali and Sugar
Ray Robinson, pointing to his 47-0 record as proof.
He also said he would never have lost to a fighter like Leon Spinks,
who beat an aging Ali in 1978 after having just seven pro fights. "I
just look at Ali's career when he fought Leon Spinks and lost to a
fighter with seven fights," Mayweather said.
There were some other fights he lost and he's still known as The
Greatest because that's what he put out there. It is what it is." A
little more than a week before his megafight with Manny Pacquiao,
Mayweather seemed relaxed on a conference call where he talked about his
career and the man he will face in the ring May 2. He refused to say
anything bad about Pacquiao, and said he was treating the richest fight
ever as just another fight. "I know it's the biggest fight in boxing
history but I can't approach it like that," Mayweather said.
"I'm never going to put any unnecessary pressure on myself. I like to
approach the fight like he's a fighter who's extremely talented. But my
thing is to just be Floyd Mayweather."
That has worked for Mayweather his entire career, though most boxing
historians would disagree with his own view of his place in boxing's
historical hierarchy.
That includes the current heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko,
who told a group of reporters in New York on Tuesday that maybe
Mayweather shouldn't be so boastful. "I think probably, I heard this
comment from Mayweather that he's better than Ali or greater than Ali,"
Klitschko said.
"I think people call the king the king, not the king (who says) 'I'm
the king.' So people make others somebody that he is or that he's not.
So that's people's opinions." While Mayweather's place in history may be
in debate, there's no debate that he will make the biggest purse ever
against Pacquiao. Depending on pay-per-view sales - which reportedly
have been strong for a fight still 10 days away - he could earn as much
as $180 million for the welterweight title bout. That prompted a
question Wednesday about whether the free-spending Mayweather - who owns
a fleet of expensive cars, a private jet and several mansions - worries
about losing all his money after he retires.
"I'm blessed, I made some good investments," Mayweather said. "If I
wanted to retire today I could.." Mayweather credited what he called a
brilliant game plan for reaching his goal of becoming the first fighters
to ever make a nine figure paycheck in one night. But he said he has
changed in recent years, toning down his act and putting aside the
Pretty Boy and Money May personas he used to help him sell previous
pay-per-view fights.
This fight needs no selling, and Mayweather has been subdued at every
public appearance. "It took a game plan for me going out there to win
and me speaking out with a very loud voice and having a lot of
personality," he said.
"But as you get older you mature. You've done trash talking for 17 or
18 years, look at me, what I've done. I don't have to do all of that. I
did all that loud talking and everything to get to this point."
That includes speaking badly about Freddie Roach, who has tried to
cast Mayweather as the bad guy in this fight promotion.
"He's making it basically a god against devil kind of thing, but he
doesn't have to get in there and fight," Mayweather said. "He's entitled
to say what he wants to say, but the fighters aren't speaking like that
and it comes down to the two fighters."
- AP |