FLOYD MAYWEATHER insists he decided against knocking out Conor McGregor early so the pair could have a money-spinning rematch.
The 42-year-old American came out of retirement to beat the UFC star in ten rounds in 2017 before hanging up his gloves again.
Floyd Mayweather claims he avoided beating Conor McGregor earlyCredit: AFP or licensors
McGregor started well, winning some of the opening rounds before the exhausted ring novice was picked apart by Mayweather, who barley shed a sweat until the finish.
Mayweather – who claimed he only did push ups and sit ups as training for the fight – is adamant he could have ended the bout whenever he pleased.
But with the possibility of a lucrative rematch taking place afterwards, the multi-millionaire decided to keep the fight competitive.
He told Drink Champs: “I took it serious, but I wanted to have some fun in the fight and I wanted to entertain the people.
“You have to give the people a show, so I gave the people a show.
“If I wanted to go out there and f*** him up and blaze him right out the gate, I could’ve did that. But my thing is this, if I would’ve did that, then it wouldn’t be probably a part two.”
After Mayweather’s Las Vegas win, he returned a year later in an exhibition bout against Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in Tokyo.
The American legend – who turns 43 this month – then announced in November he was “coming out of retirement in 2020” to work with UFC boss Dana White.
White revealed plans for the 50-0 star to box twice, with the first fight targeted for October or November of this year.
Mayweather revealed he has no intentions of facing boxers, believing he has nothing left to prove against anyone in the sport, and suggested only crossover bouts against UFC stars like McGregor or Khabib Nurmagomedov will bring him back to the ring.
He explained: “Just this year alone, with the two fights on the table, the numbers are up there high.
“My numbers can be somewhere upwards of $600million (£460m). I even talked about fighting Khabib and Conor in the same day. I’d fight Khabib in the daytime and I’d fight Conor at night.
“You’ve gotta realise, I don’t fight boxers. I already proved to the world I’m the best at that.
“I don’t need to be on the pound-for-pound list. It’s no longer the pound-for-pound list, it’s the Mayweather-for-Mayweather list. I’ve surpassed that.”
Mayweather claimed he barely trained before beating McGregorCredit: Alamy Live News
50 Cent says Floyd Mayweather needs to return to boxing as he has ran out of money
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
