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[mattc25]

http://http://msn.foxsports.com/boxi...eather-retires

Unbeaten welterweight Floyd Mayweather Jr. announced his retirement again Friday, with boxing's unofficial pound-for-pound king saying he no longer has the passion necessary to fight.

The WBC welterweight champion, made the abrupt announcement in a letter to select media members Friday. The 31-year-old former U.S. Olympian (39-0, 25 KOs) hasn't fought since beating Ricky Hatton last December, but was widely expected to fight Oscar De La Hoya in September in a rematch of the richest fight in boxing history.

"This decision was not an easy one for me to make, as boxing is all I have done since I was a child," said Mayweather, the son and nephew of three of the sport's top trainers. "However, these past few years have been extremely difficult for me to find the desire and joy to continue in the sport."

Mayweather also said he was done fighting after each of his last two bouts, but his letter somberly described the reasons for the Pretty Boy's decision to "permanently retire from boxing."

"I loved competing and winning and also wanted to continue my career for the fans, knowing they were there for me and enjoyed watching me fight," Mayweather said. "However, after many sleepless nights and intense soul-searching, I realized I could no longer base my decision on anything but my own personal happiness, which I no longer could find."

Though he reportedly earned more than $50 million combined for his split-decision win over De La Hoya and a knockout of Hatton, Mayweather has seemed much more interested in being a celebrity than a fighter over the past 18 months.

He has appeared on "Dancing With the Stars," worked on his record label and entered the wrestling ring for a choreographed bout with the 440-pound "Big Show" at WrestleMania in Orlando earlier this year. He also gained a broader measure of fans through two short-run reality shows on HBO leading up to his last two fights, detailing the wacky family dynamics of the Mayweather clan.

Mayweather's father, Floyd Sr., is estranged from his son. He is De La Hoya's longtime trainer, and though he sat out De La Hoya's first fight with Floyd Jr., he planned to train De La Hoya for the rematch. Floyd Jr. is trained by his uncle, Roger, and another uncle, Jeff, also is emerging as a respected trainer.

Though fans and promoters have clamored for Mayweather to take on unbeaten welterweight Miguel Cotto, Mayweather had repeatedly dismissed the idea, saying he planned to fight De La Hoya, whose own plans for a three-bout arc to end his career will be altered by Mayweather's decision.

De La Hoya, who beat Steve Forbes in a tuneup last month, had hoped to fight Mayweather and Cotto this year before turning full-time to his career in charge of Golden Boy Promotions.

Given Mayweather's love of money and attention, he knows many fans won't believe he's truly gone — but Mayweather insists he's finished.

"I am sorry I have to leave the sport at this time, knowing I still have my God-given abilities to succeed and future multi-million dollar paydays ahead, including the one right around the corner," Mayweather said. "But there comes a time when money doesn't matter. I just can't do it anymore. I have found a peace with my decision that I have not felt in a long time."

[Noise Chopped]

Hm. No.

[JimmyMoore]

I've got $100 that says Mayweather is back in the ring within a year. He's too much of an attention whore to quit, as proven by this announcement.

[pa99fighter]

Edited for Bashing.

[Salvy_Mic]

Whatever. He didn't want to fight Cotto for whatever reason. All I'm disappointed in is that I never got to see his face bashed in by Cotto. Otherwise, he wasn't doing anything for the sport and tied up the welterweight title by not defending it against any actual welterweights. Good riddance.

Let Cotto/Margarito spread the truth as to who best welterweight in the world is. At least they were man enough to take tough fights.

[Punk Ass]

Cotto really needs to come out and call PBF a pussy on nation wide TV! That's the oly thing that will make this dude man up.

[pa99fighter]

Editing for bashing? Why is he so scared to fight De La Hoya again he already beat him once. The coward loses all respect in my eyes. It is one thing if he said he didn't want a rematch and retired but he signed for one he owes the fans one.

[Salvy_Mic]

To be honest, I'm glad he's not fighting Oscar again, considering how boring the first fight was. Mayweather has an enormous ego, but that's usually trumped by his love of money, which was the sole reason he was fighting Oscar again. The reason Mayweather retired is because he can't handle boxing fans criticizing him for talking about wanting to rematch Oscar and Hatton, fights he already won, while dismissing guys like Cotto and Margarito as "not being on his level and thus, not worthy of his time". When the fans called bullshit on that, Mayweather's ego didn't know how to handle it. So he retired, where he won't need to deal with it.

Screw him. Oscar de la Hoya was never as talented as Mayweather, nor did he win many of his big fights, but one thing Oscar never did was duck a dangerous fighter. Do you think Mayweather would have moved all the way up to middleweight to fight Hopkins? Do you think Mayweather would have fought a dangerous guy like Ike Quartey, with the knowledge that a virtually assured huge money fight with Felix Trinidad could get blown with a loss? Do you think Mayweather would have given Fernando Vargas a shot at him, even though he suffered a loss to Trinidad? Do you think Mayweather would have ever fought a prime, dangerous Shane Mosley who didn't have anywhere the big name that Oscar had? I don't think so. And that's why Oscar gets the love (not from the hardcore, mind you) he does and Mayweather doesn't.

Granted, the Oscar of late deserves the criticism he gets from the hardcore. He's guilty of being the huge pink elephant in the room, distracting fighters in and around his weight class of from not fighting other quality opposition in hopes of landing a big fight with him, while Oscar hasn't been an elite fighter for some time. Not to mention some of the promotional shenanigans he's gotten caught up with as of late (the runaround Golden Boy's been giving Nate Campbell, the whole Pacquiao affair, and the poaching of the best boxers to fight under his banner while not developing his own stars like Arum). Mayweather will undoubtedly go down as the greatest boxer of this generation. He should, too, probably just on what he did at 130 and 135. But ever since he moved up to 140, his legacy has suffered until the past year because he took questionable fights and ducked big fights when they could have been made. He should have fought Hatton at 140 when both were coming off big wins over respected titlists (the Tszyu and Gatti wins). He should have fought Margarito when he became the welterweight champion after already beating Judah and Baldomir. And most of all, he should have fought Cotto. That's the sort of shit he'll be remembered for.

Sugar Ray Leonard, before he retired the first time, fought HUGE fights with Wilfred Benitez, Roberto Duran, and Thomas Hearns, at times when Benitez was undoubtedly the best welterweight in the world, when Duran was undoubtedly the best figher in the world, and when Hearns was undoubtedly the most dangerous welterweight in the world and a bad stylistic matchup. Ask yourself, do you think Mayweather would have done all that?

[boaz33]

Originally Posted by harlemhustla145

Cotto really needs to come out and call PBF a pussy on nation wide TV! That's the oly thing that will make this dude man up.

Yeah, I couldn't believe it after his last fight that he didn't call out Mayweather.

[Punk Ass]

Originally Posted by Salvy_Mic

To be honest, I'm glad he's not fighting Oscar again, considering how boring the first fight was. Mayweather has an enormous ego, but that's usually trumped by his love of money, which was the sole reason he was fighting Oscar again. The reason Mayweather retired is because he can't handle boxing fans criticizing him for talking about wanting to rematch Oscar and Hatton, fights he already won, while dismissing guys like Cotto and Margarito as "not being on his level and thus, not worthy of his time". When the fans called bullshit on that, Mayweather's ego didn't know how to handle it. So he retired, where he won't need to deal with it.

Screw him. Oscar de la Hoya was never as talented as Mayweather, nor did he win many of his big fights, but one thing Oscar never did was duck a dangerous fighter. Do you think Mayweather would have moved all the way up to middleweight to fight Hopkins? Do you think Mayweather would have fought a dangerous guy like Ike Quartey, with the knowledge that a virtually assured huge money fight with Felix Trinidad could get blown with a loss? Do you think Mayweather would have given Fernando Vargas a shot at him, even though he suffered a loss to Trinidad? Do you think Mayweather would have ever fought a prime, dangerous Shane Mosley who didn't have anywhere the big name that Oscar had? I don't think so. And that's why Oscar gets the love (not from the hardcore, mind you) he does and Mayweather doesn't.

Granted, the Oscar of late deserves the criticism he gets from the hardcore. He's guilty of being the huge pink elephant in the room, distracting fighters in and around his weight class of from not fighting other quality opposition in hopes of landing a big fight with him, while Oscar hasn't been an elite fighter for some time. Not to mention some of the promotional shenanigans he's gotten caught up with as of late (the runaround Golden Boy's been giving Nate Campbell, the whole Pacquiao affair, and the poaching of the best boxers to fight under his banner while not developing his own stars like Arum). Mayweather will undoubtedly go down as the greatest boxer of this generation. He should, too, probably just on what he did at 130 and 135. But ever since he moved up to 140, his legacy has suffered until the past year because he took questionable fights and ducked big fights when they could have been made. He should have fought Hatton at 140 when both were coming off big wins over respected titlists (the Tszyu and Gatti wins). He should have fought Margarito when he became the welterweight champion after already beating Judah and Baldomir. And most of all, he should have fought Cotto. That's the sort of shit he'll be remembered for.

Sugar Ray Leonard, before he retired the first time, fought HUGE fights with Wilfred Benitez, Roberto Duran, and Thomas Hearns, at times when Benitez was undoubtedly the best welterweight in the world, when Duran was undoubtedly the best figher in the world, and when Hearns was undoubtedly the most dangerous welterweight in the world and a bad stylistic matchup. Ask yourself, do you think Mayweather would have done all that?

I agree with everything your saying except for the DLH didn't win as many big fights and isn't an elite fighter right now:headscratch:

DLH has an extensive record of extremely big wins that range from:

Jorge Paez, Rafael Ruelas, Genaro Hernandez, Jesse James Leija, Julio Cesar Chavez, Miguel Angel Gonzalez, Pernell Whitaker, Hector Camacho, and Ike Quartey. That's what made DLH the highest paid boxer today because he had beaten soo many big names in convincing fashion.

He's still one of the P4P best today as well. He gave PBF the toughest fight of his career and was taking the fight to BHop before that body blow. Mind you DLH is naturally 130lb and moved up to 160 to fight BHop. It takes nothing away from DLH to lose that fight.

Reguardless of the record, DLH really beat SSM the second time and he lost the Trinidad fight himself when he ran for 4 rounds.

How is he not still elite?