Floyd Mayweather's "Retirement"

"Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather, the undefeated WBC welterweight champion, has announced his retirement from boxing. Don't believe the hype, either from the critics or from Mayweather himself.

Mayweather has a mouthy, egotistical style that has alienated many mainstream boxing fans and pundits. I should know, because I'm one of his critics. I turn up at Mayweather fights hoping against hope that someone will get past his speed and reflexes and win the victory that Jose Luis Castilleo should have gotten in his first fight with Mayweather (Mayweather clearly won the rematch). However, unlike many in the boxing press, I am not going to make outrageous claims and make myself look ridiculous because of my distaste for Mayweather.

The legion of critics who were already accusing Mayweather of avoiding the tough Puerto Rican puncher and WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto. Now they are screaming "yellow" and accusing the world's pound-for-pound king of cowardice. Bah! In the last three years, Mayweather has fought Arturo Gatti, Zab Judah, Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton, and Carlos Baldomir. No one with a sterling resume like Mayweather's can be called "yellow;" it's like calling Max Cleland or John Kerry a traitorous Al Qaeda sympathizer (is Karl Rove behind all the anti-Mayweather griping?). As I wrote at the time of his WWE appearance, Mayweather has kept up a busy schedule and if anyone in boxing has earned a little break, it's him. That is the way to look at this "retirement." Mayweather has been talking retirement for more than a year now, but his announcing it is no reason to take it seriously. It's not going to last and there are many reasons for that.

Mayweather is a Showboat, First and Foremost