The boxing welterweight world title holder who spent 17 out of his 19 year career as a world champion called it a day and announced his retirement after his straight 49th win.
The 38 year old boxing pro has never lost a single game in the 49 games he played during his 19 year old career. The reputation he built during his career has made him one of the richest sportsperson in the world and can easily be among the Top 5. The controversial match with Manny Pacquiao early in May this year had earned him $250 million with it being the most widely talked about match for both being champions and was initially considered a possibility of end Mayweather’s continuous wins. The champ has proved again that he is the undisputed champion on boxing by winning Manny Pacquiao convincingly and in style though there were critics and Manny unhappy with the way the game was played and decisions taken demanding a rematch. At one point, everyone thought there might even be a rematch but Mayweather chose to ignore the allegations.
The champ had declared he would officially retire after this 49th match with Andre Berto on 13th of September. Mayweather, 38 (49 matches, 49-0, 26 Knock Outs) played against Andre Berto, 32 (34 matches, 30-4, 23 Knock Outs) from Florida. He started of aggressively in the opening round, immediately throwing right hands, jabbing and taking solid left hooks taking the fight to Berto. The boxer never looked like he was 38 with his agile moves, punches and quick shots.
The match was clearly dominated by Mayweather with clean shots, the punch statistics show the accuracy of the champ by landing 232 out of 420 punches (57% accuracy) versus Berto could only limit to 83 out of 495 punches (17% accuracy).
With the win earning the champ a neat $32 million, the champ has called it quits saying he will be retiring and would not play any more since there is nothing more to achieving signing off saying “I’m the best”. This is not the first time the champ has called it quits, many think this could only be that Mayweather wanted a build up for the fight as his last dance. He may or may not return to the ring anymore, but for now he officially retired with a career earnings of $600-700 million and 49 straight wins in his 19 year career.
- Bharath
