Boxing: Floyd Mayweather Takes Swipe At Canelo Alvarez, Reiterates Decision To Stay Retired

Canelo Alvarez is the top pound for pound fighter and is the face of boxing today. His former rival Floyd Mayweather recognizes it, but the retired undefeated champion reminded everyone that he is still miles ahead of the Mexican superstar in terms of earning capacity.

Mayweather took a swipe at Alvarez and his five-year $365 million contract with DAZN, playing down the deal as being cheap for his standards as he mentioned how he could earn the same overnight.

“If I’m not mistaken, Canelo got something like eleven fights right, for 300 something million. I got that in one night,” the 43-year-old told Fighthype.com, per World Boxing News.

“I got that (what Canelo signed for over five years) in 28 minutes. You know, I got Canelo’s entire contract in 28 minutes. I made over $300 million twice. And it only took me like, 36 minutes and 28 minutes. We can round it off and say one hour. In one hour I made $650 million,” he added.

These claims by Mayweather are backed by the books as his fights against Manny Pacquiao and Conor McGregor stand as the two most lucrative bouts in the history of the sport. In fact, his faceoff against Canelo in 2013 was likewise a blockbuster success as it bagged the fifth-highest pay-per-view buys in combat sports history with $2.2 million, according to Business Insider.

Mayweather prevailed in the said fight via a majority decision as Alvarez suffered the first loss of his professional career.

Seven years later, the Mexican has taken the grasp of boxing’s supremacy while Mayweather lives the post-career life. But in contrast to his previous hints, the latter insisted he is happy being retired as it appears he has no plans on stepping back into the ring.

“You gotta love my story, The American Dream. I took the hard route, but I made it look easy,” he said. "I’m very, very happy with how my career went. I don’t have to fight anymore. To those fighters who want to call me out, I’m happy and I’m retired."

Mayweather ended his career unblemished in 50 fights. He last fought in 2017 against McGregor where he won via a 10^th round stoppage.