Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (Photo : Twitter)
Alex Ariza, strength and conditioning coach for Floyd Mayweather, Jr would probably get a heads up if Mayweather is really retired.
But he spoke out and confirmed, yet again that the 49-0 boxer will not return anymore in a conversation with The Standard.
"I don't know what is left out there for him to do, what's going to motivate him," he said."I don't know who is going to really motivate him to come back and I don't know how much money they can offer him."
Ariza notes that Mayweather has made "almost a billion dollars" and money would not really be much of a factor. The next question was whether beating heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano's immaculate 49-0 record could draw him back into the ring (Mayweather tied that record last September 12).
"I don't know whether Floyd really holds those things at the same level people hold them," Ariza said. "Floyd has done it all, made all the money. He's the richest athlete in the world. He's Forbes No. 1, he's broken all the records, beaten all the champions and to beat Marciano's record, I don't think it's one of those things on his mind."
That's what we have all heard from everyone in his camp, and from Mayweather himself. Are the WBC and WBA hearing something else? ESPN's Dan Rafael has raised the issue of the Mayweather getting to keep his titles, which is not the norm if a fighter retires.
"It stands to reason that a retirement announcement would lead to the automatic vacating of the belts," Rafael said. "But Mayweather has not vacated the tiles, and neither the WBC nor the WBA has declared them vacant."
He added: "It is quite absurd to allow a retired boxer to continue to hold titles, much less in two weight classes simultaneously -- which is blatantly against the rules of both organizations."
The titles may be stripped from Mayweather eventually and this point may not mean anything significant, but as Rafael points out, it seems like Money still got the red carpet treatment all the way to retirement.
