MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – It seems this weekend was the last time Floyd Mayweather will set foot in a ring to compete in boxing.
The former multiple-time boxing world champion might be done with the sport on a competitive level following his exhibition bout against YouTube star Logan Paul on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium. Mayweather and Paul went all eight, three-minute rounds scheduled for their Showtime pay-per-view main event. The special rules bout had no judges, and a winner was not declared.
The 44-year-old officially Mayweather retired from professional boxing in 2017 after defeating former UFC two-division champion Conor McGregor, ending his professional run unbeaten at 50-0. Since then, Mayweather has competed twice in exhibition bouts – first against Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa, and now Paul.
Mayweather says there certainly won’t be a return to professional boxing in his future, and maybe not even to exhibition bouts, either.
“Oh absolutely not; I retired from the sport of boxing,” Mayweather told reporters, including MMA Junkie, following Sunday’s event. “I retired from the sport of boxing. I’ve said this before: It’s not easy, even for this fight. Just train a day and then take a couple of days off, train a day then take a couple of days off because of the age, because of the wear and tear of early on in my career. No punches to the head or anything, but just boxing and just sports period is really hard on the body, athletes, period. As far as me coming back to the sport of boxing (professionally), absolutely not. As far as me doing an exhibition again, probably not.”
Perhaps surprisingly, Mayweather was unable to put away Paul, who only had one previous exhibition bout under his belt entering the pay-per-view event. The 26-year-old was outboxed but took Mayweather’s best shots and was able to see the final bell.
Mayweather says he felt the age finally catching up to him and doesn’t think he performed as well as he used to.
“Of course at my age I’m not going to perform like when I was 19,” Mayweather explained. “I’m not supposed to. Is my hair going to be all black forever? Of course not, it’s going to turn all gray. I understand that; it’s a part of life. I’m I going to be able to always fight like when I fought Diego Corrales or Arturo Gatti? Absolutely not, but I understand that.”