Floyd Mayweather Jr drew the curtain on his incredible professional career having defeated every single opponent he ever faced.
‘Money’ is one of, if not the greatest defensive fighter of all time, defeating fighters such as Manny Pacquiao, Canelo Alvarez and Juan Manuel Marquez during his tenure, where he captured world titles across five weight classes.
Perhaps one of his most important victories came in 2007 when he defeated Oscar De La Hoya to win the WBC light-middleweight title in their showdown at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. After a competitive twelve rounds, Mayweather was declared the winner via split decision.
Speaking to HBO’s Larry Merchant just moments after the bout, Floyd Mayweather Sr admitted that he scored the bout in favour of ‘The Golden Boy’.
“I’m just gonna be honest with you, man. If you want to call fights by scoring, points system, who’s throwing more punches, you had to give it to Oscar. If you’re just going on a guy hitting a guy with single shots, you have to give it to my son.
“My son had good defence, he caught a lot of punches with his shoulder and his arm, but it’s still about a guy throwing punches. If he touches you, he’s scoring … I thought the fight was a close fight, it’s just where the point system goes. If you look at the point system, who’s touching who the most … You’re gonna have to give it to Oscar if you’re going by point system.”
Mayweather and De La Hoya were reportedly in negotiations for a rematch, but this never came to fruition for reasons that remain unclear.
‘The Golden Boy’ fought just twice more before drawing the curtain on his career at the end of 2008 when he was defeated by Pacquiao in a non-title showdown.
