If Floyd Mayweather sticks to his current retirement plan, he will go out not only with an undefeated record, but also as one of the few boxers who was able leave the sport in top form.
Mayweather dominated Robert Guerrero this past Saturday. He looked as quick, accurate and powerful as ever. It was a masterful and convincing performance in a unanimous-decision victory.
After the fight, he let it be known that the end is in sight. LaceUpBoxing passed along this tweet:
Since Mayweather signed a six-fight deal with with Showtime/CBS that runs for 30 months, it looks like we all have just 2.5 more years to enjoy Mayweather's genius in the ring. And that is exactly what we will get in his final five fights.
Mayweather will be 38 in 30 months. It is rare that a boxer can keep his elite form at that age.
Roy Jones Jr. picked up his first loss to Antonio Tarver at age 35 to drop his record to 49-2, and he lost his next two fights to lose his elite status.
At age 37, Evander Holyfield lost to Lennox Lewis to drop to 36-4-1. He went 2-4-1 in his next seven fights as he faded to irrelevance.
And most examples don't even hold up this well into their late 30s. Especially the further back we go.
However, there have been some recent trend changers.
Juan Manuel Marquez was 39 when he laid out Manny Pacquiao last December, and Bernard Hopkins continues to impress at age 49.
Floyd is going to fall in the latter group.
For starters, he has always kept himself in immaculate shape. This will pay massive dividends now that he is getting older. Most importantly, Mayweather has never taken a lot of abuse in the ring.
Right before Mayweather's fight with Guerrero, CompuBox tweeted this stat:
CompuBox lets us know that didn't change much on Saturday:
Mayweather has piled up stats like this through his entire career. He is arguably the greatest defensive fighter the sport has ever seen. As a result, he leaves almost every fight nearly unscathed.
All of this was evident on Saturday as Mayweather looked fresh, fluid and insanely quick, and there is no reason to think he will lose any of that in the next 30 months.
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