After his close fight against De La Hoya in 2007 Floyd announced his retirement, which only lasted a year.
On Saturday, September 12th, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Floyd Mayweather (48-0, 26 KOs) defends his WBA Super World and WBC World welterweight titles against Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) in what he says will be his last professional bout.
Although Berto has held various titles in the 147-pound division, and is currently the interim WBA World welterweight champion, he comes in as a 32-1 underdog. But he has respectable power with a 70% KO rate and good hand speed. Berto also has wins against the likes of Luis Collazo, Steve Forbes, Juan Urango, and Josesito Lopez in his last fight.
There has been lots of skepticism coming into this fight about whether this will actually be Floyd’s final fight. If he rides off into the sunset with a perfect 49-0 record, he will have matched the longstanding record of Rocky Marciano. Wrapping up an illustrious 19-year career against a shaky opponent who has gone 3-3 record in his last 6 fights is a bit questionable to say the least, but if this fight was made five years ago at the height of Berto’s career there would be little if any criticism.
Is this really Mayweather’s final fight—especially considering that after his close fight against Oscar De La Hoya in 2007 he announced his retirement, which only lasted a year?
“High Stakes” will air on Showtime PPV starting at 8 PM/ET with undercard bouts including Badou Jack vs. George Groves for a 168-pound title and Roman Martinez vs. Orlando Salido for a 130-pound title, both of which should be very entertaining fights before the main event airs at 11 PM.
This article was penned by the author who is not related to the WBA and the statements, expressions or opinions referenced herein are that of the author alone and not the WBA.