Even in retirement it seems Floyd “Money” Mayweather can’t escape rumors of a possible boxing return against the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Canelo Alvarez.
The undefeated American welterweight kingpin last fought in a professional boxing ring in 2017 when he took on UFC’s biggest star Conor McGregor in a 12-round junior middleweight blockbuster Pay-Per-View event.
The crossover event pit UFC’s biggest draw against the undefeated PPV boxing star. It was a huge success with Mayweather finishing the Irish southpaw in ten rounds.
Mayweather who is the richest boxer in the history of the sport, also holds all of the PPV records with his bouts against Manny Pacquiao and Conor McGregor both breaking the 4 million PPV buys mark.
The 42-year-old originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, has made Las Vegas his home and enjoys traveling as evidenced by his many Instagram posts from different countries.
For Mayweather the traveling is not just for pleasure but business, he has many ventures including a new Boxing and Fitness gym with his name tied to it.
The 50-0 boxer was in Torrance, California to promote his Mayweather Boxing + Fitness gym business and spoke to media at the November 16 opening of the facility.
When asked if he thought about returning to the boxing ring he told Reuters that his health was most important and cited recent deaths in boxing for his decision not to return.
“I’ve got calls to get back into the ring, but my health is my wealth,” said Mayweather.
“Boxing is a very, very brutal sport. In the last few years a lot of fighters have died inside that squared circle. You’ve gotta know when to hang it up and I had a great career.”
Mayweather might be done boxing professionally but he is still open to doing more exhibition boxing bouts like the one he had with undefeated kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa at Rizin 14 on December 31, 2018 in Japan.
“I’ll still travel and do exhibitions. I make great money doing exhibitions between $10 and $30 million, I think I make more doing that than most fighters make in fighting.”
In September, Mayweather called out Manny Pacquiao to an exhibition bout in Tokyo, but the Filipino southpaw who at the age of 40 is currently the oldest reigning welterweight champion in boxing history wasn’t interested in an exhibition only a real pro fight rematch.
Pacquiao responded a month later on his official Instagram with Chinese billionaire Jack Ma challenging Mayweather to a real fight.
As of now, the doors for a rematch are shut and Mayweather is primarily focused on being an entrepreneur and exhibition fighter.
