Floyd Mayweather: I can still win world titles

By Boxing News - 05/13/2020 - Comments

By Jim Malzman: Floyd Mayweather Jr. believes he’s still got enough talent to win world titles at age 43 and perform well. Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) wants to let the younger fighters shine right now rather than staying in the sport hold down belts.

There’s a great deal of anticipation with the boxing public in seeing Mayweather back in training and looking better than he has in years. Right now, Mayweather seems as good as he did for his last fight against Conor McGregor in August 2017.

Good options for Mayweather

  • Terence Crawford
  • Errol Spence Jr.
  • Manny Pacquiao
  • Danny Garcia
  • Shawn Porter
  • Vergil Ortiz Jr.
  • Canelo Alvarez

Before coming out of retirement to face UFC star McGregor, Mayweather hadn’t fought in two years since his win over Andre Berto in 2015.

People want to see Mayweather come back for a rematch with Manny Pacquiao, who he defeated in 2015 by a 12 round decision. There’s unfinished business between those two due to Manny’s shoulder injury, which hampered his game in ‘Fight of the Century’ in Las Vegas.

Mayweather wants younger fighters to shine

“I feel like I can go out there and perform and win titles and still put on a good show, but there are a time and a place,” said Mayweather to Fighthype. “It’s time for these other fighters to come up and shine.

“I had my time to shine. I’m still in the sport basically. I’ve been in the sport 24 years, and I was champion for 20 years. So like I say, I had my time to shine. I want to see all those fighters go out there and do good,” said Mayweather.

Assuming Mayweather did come back, he would probably have his best shot at winning a world title at 147 in facing WBA belt holder Pacquiao. The Filipino superstar Pacquiao is 41-years-old, and not performing at the level that we see with IBF/WBC champion Errol Spence Jr. or WBO champ Terence Crawford.

Mayweather says he still wants to fight in “entertainment” matches against non-boxers. If Mayweather is going to continue to do those types of events, he’ll need to come back fairly soon in order not to complete while he still has a little youth left.

Although Bernard Hopkins fought up until he was 49, he was a particular case. Mayweather can’t fight up to that age if he’s going to be taking on talented fighters like Conor McGregor or Khabib. Those guys are bigger and stronger than Mayweather, and they could hurt him if they land one of their powerful shots on his chin.

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