Undefeated at 37 years old, boxing’s pound-for-pound king revealed Tuesday his plans to call it a career.
Speaking with media members following his arrival to the MGM Grand for fight week, Floyd Mayweather Jr. said he intends to retire in September 2015. Mayweather will finish out his current six-fight, $200 million contract with Showtime and CBS, completing the fourth fight on his deal Saturday when he defends his welterweight world title to Marcos Maidana.
“I only got two more fights left (after Saturday) and after the next two fights I just want to build the Mayweather Promotions brand,” said Mayweather, via ESPN’s Dan Rafael.
“My next fight is in May and my last fight is in September, so a year from now will be my last fight.”
Mayweather also dampened rumors he was in talks to finally face WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, saying it was nothing more than Top Rank promoter Bob Arum drumming up publicity for Pacquiao’s pay-per-view bout with Chris Algieri Nov. 22 in Macau, China.
“Not true,” Mayweather said. “I can’t say what the future holds, but Arum and Pacquiao is trying to sell tickets for the (fight with the) guy named (Chris) Algieri. Trying to sell tickets for that fight. I don’t know where they fighting, I don’t know anything about what Top Rank is doing.”
I won’t insult you by trying to shoehorn some sort of MMA angle into this lead story, so here’s Chuck Liddell kicking a cutout of Floyd.
5 MUST-READ STORIES
Rumble ‘pissed off.’ Anthony Jonson isn’t happy about Alexander Gustafsson saying he needed a few more wins to get on his level. ‘You didn’t win; don’t make it seem like you’re the champion and you can say those type of things.’
Inside the numbers. You would assume most MMA fans were flipping back and forth between UFC and Bellator last Friday, but Dave Meltzer explains how that wasn’t the case, saying audiences were more loyal to specific brands or fighters than to MMA itself.
Some clarity. Florida police have released documents explaining why they dropped multiple felony charges against Thiago Silva.
‘”UFC D**k riding?” Lets talk about that.’ Bas Rutten responds to the criticism he and his broadcast partner Kenny Rice got for abruptly cutting off Ben Askren during an interview on ‘Inside MMA.’
‘The future.’ A great technical breakdown of the striking of Conor McGregor.
MEDIA STEW
Bellator 123 Uncut. Great stuff from Tamdan McCrory.
The TUF 20 cast says nice thing about one another.
‘Inside MMA’ viewer submissions.
Andrei Arlovski training with Brazilian SWAT.
Nice introspective interview with Mike Tyson.
Jimmy Kimmel enlists Judo Gene LeBell into helping him prank his aunt.
Long watches.
MMA Tete-A-Tete: Black Eyes + Bad Company
TWEETS
Get him on.
@BasRuttenMMA please let me know if you definition of “rant” includes making educated points and speaking the truth
— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) September 10, 2014
Bad knees.
@TeamKhabib @Dethrone_Dan @ufc Lets do it brother!! I fly out to Vegas tomorrow!! Hit me up and we can train 🙂
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) September 9, 2014
Into the sunset.
After 12 years of fighting… http://t.co/bpRQ0kYwzV http://t.co/MXAhJbLDAq
— Cody Donovan (@donnybrookcody) September 9, 2014
Beef?
Accept the loss like a man, or the ufc can send me your FoTN check and we do it again @mikemav22 http://t.co/i0pcVSQshp
— Joe Lauzon (@JoeLauzon) September 9, 2014
Dear @joelauzon, If you’re gonna question my integrity as a man publicly, you can put the Xbox… http://t.co/2JhtMxP80F
— Michael Chiesa (@MikeMav22) September 9, 2014
@JoeLauzon Agreed it’s squashed. Great fight, I’m still a fan and no love lost. Cheeseburgers on me next time we cross paths.
— Michael Chiesa (@MikeMav22) September 9, 2014
OK.
The same people who don’t know him. Shit that the media and other fighters have attacked him with. … http://t.co/eDSIpKaUtP
— malki kawa (@malkikawa) September 9, 2014
Congrats.
Thanks to the palms Casino for my Championship Blackjack belt. Thanks to President Todd Greenberg and… http://t.co/pUcWpomT4Y
— Dana White (@danawhite) September 9, 2014
Damn.
Hey @dc_mma USA wrestling is good ,but Russian wrestling is on another level@ufc pic.twitter.com/9VuZrUd2lg
— khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) September 9, 2014
What color belt is that?
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announced yesterday (Sept. 9 2014)
Darren Elkins vs. Lucas Martins at UFC 179
Travis Browne vs. Brendan Schaub at UFC 181
Gilbert Burns vs. Christos Giagos at UFC 179
Found something you’d like to see in the Morning Report? Just hit me up on Twitter @SaintMMA and we’ll include it in tomorrow’s column.