LAS VEGAS (AP) — Floyd Mayweather Jr. refused Wednesday to back off earlier comments declaring himself a better fighter than .
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
(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 , 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.
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, , 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.
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.”
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