(UDHAYAM, COLOMBO) – After 49 career bouts, Floyd Mayweather Jr. knows what it takes to be a star in the boxing world. According to him, the current class of fighters doesn’t have it yet.
The 40-year-old called out younger boxers who are trying to get paid like he was over his career.
“You don’t have Floyd Mayweather star power,” he recently told FightHype (via World Boxing News). “It takes more than just being a knockout artist. You need to have that swag and an aura. There’s different things you need to have to be Floyd Mayweather.”
Mayweather retired in 2015 with a 49-0 record. According to Kurt Badenhausen of Forbes, the boxer finished 2016 worth $340 million and often topped the list of the highest-paid athletes in the world.
From his perspective, this was due to a work ethic younger boxers don’t have.
“[What] goes on with these fighters in today’s time, these fighters want Floyd Mayweather money, but they don’t want to put in the Floyd Mayweather work,” he said. “For me, it really was blood, sweat and tears. I really, really bust my ass to get to where I got to.”
There have been discussions about Mayweather coming out of retirement to face UFC star Conor McGregor, but nothing is official.
