WATCH: Floyd Mayweather Says He's The Best In Boxing Because Of His Dad

Boxing great Floyd Mayweather talked about the man who inspired him the most: his father, Floyd Mayweather, Sr. His uncle, Roger, and father coached him since he was young.

Mayweather, 40, gave the interview to TMZ Wednesday, starting off coy when asked about his biggest inspiration. “Everybody inspires me,” the fighter said. “It’s not just one person. I think that everybody played a major key—a lot of champions and a lot of fighters that weren’t champions played a major key with me getting to where I am. I didn’t do it by myself.”

READ: WATCH: Floyd Mayweather Says How Conor McGregor Could Beat Him In Boxing

Ultimately, though, he said his father was the main person who helped him achieve greatness in the sport of boxing.

“I really owe all the thanks to my dad because my dad started me off in the beginning,” he said. “And the main thing, the first thing, he taught me is the less you get hit the longer you’ll be able to last in the sport of boxing. And that’s what I did. It’s so crazy how the sport of boxing works. In the beginning of my career when I was a knockout artist, I was a knockout artist for 10 years before my hands and my body broke down. Because I was a knockout artist, it was like Floyd can’t go the distance. Then once I got older and my body broke down, I started going the distance and then they said Mayweather can’t knock anyone out.”

Rumors swirled for months that Mayweather might agree to fight UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. While Mayweather didn’t want to slam MMA, he said the payout for boxing was much higher.

“They say men lie, women lie but numbers don’t lie. So all you gotta do is look up the numbers of boxing and look up the numbers of MMA. And you’ll see who stands at the top.”

“I’ve never seen an MMA fighter make $300 million in one night,” Mayweather told TMZ last week. “I haven’t seen an MMA fighter make $100 million in a night.”

While some would argue Mayweather could easily beat McGregor in a fight, the boxer said he had great respect for the Irish athlete. “I've been off for a couple years and I'm 40 years old now. So, I'm a lot older and he's still in his 20s and I'm in my 40s now,” he said. “So that could play a major key, we don't know. And he's a heavy hitter.”

He continued to gush over the 28-year-old. “Conor McGregor is the 2nd biggest name in MMA,” he said. “So, I'm not gonna sit right here and knock Conor McGregor. He's gone out there and done what he's had to do. It's obvious he's done something right thus far to get to the point where he's at.”

If a fight between Mayweather and McGregor were to happen, it could arguably one of the biggest fights to go down.

Follow me on Twitter @mariamzzarella