Boxing legend Floyd Mayweather looks safe, knowing that his best retirement record of 50-0 is no longer under attack.
As World Boxing News reported a few years into Mayweather hanging up his gloves, threats to his benchmark were coming from all angles. However, due to many of today’s top stars losing bouts and a new wave of the best facing the best, Mayweather will likely hold an insurmountable target.
It hasn’t been all plain sailing for Mayweather, though. He actually lost the record to Wanheng Menayothin, as the Thai superstar went 54-0 before un-retiring and losing three bouts between 2020 and 2022.
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At the time of Wanheng’s demise, there were still a few undefeated champions around who could beat Mayweather if they stepped up the pace. Heavyweight Tyson Fury was 35-0-1 until his loss against Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia. Usyk dominated ‘The Gypsy King’ during Riyadh Season in May and bids to do it again later this month.
Usyk himself is out of the running because the Ukrainian is on the wrong side of his thirties and only 22-0. The unified top division ruler turned pro late in the game due to his exceptional amateur run.
Similarly, Dmitry Bivol was too far away from the marker when suffering his maiden defeat to Artur Beterbiev in October. Naoya Inoue is 28-0 at 31 and is also considered out of the running.
Errol Spence Jr. was 28-0 and, at one point, had a chance. His career has since stalled after Terence Crawford stopped him. Crawford is the closest to Mayweather at present. However, his lack of activity in taking only one fight per year would also push him out of the reckoning at 41-0.
At 22-0 and 27 years of age, Shakur Stevenson is the first titleholder with a decade in his locker to reach Mayweather. Again, Stevenson is yet another new breed of fighter who isn’t active enough.
Then come another of Mayweather’s proteges, Gervonta Davis and Devin Haney. Davis is 30-0 at 30 but is slipped into the same timescale as Stevenson and Crawford with his events. Despite being dominated by Ryan Garcia, Haney is 31-0 at 26, and looking at his record in the cold light of day, he could conceivably reach Mayweather if it wasn’t for his obvious flaws.
Others, like Rey Vargas, Jaime Munguia, and Gilberto Ramirez, lost when hovering under and above the 40-0 range. David Benavidez still has his ‘0’ intact as he heads into a massive fight with David Morrell next year. Benavidez is 29-0 at 27 and – at this point, is the most significant dangerman to Mayweather.
A few years ago, Floyd Mayweather would undoubtedly have been worried. But with the emergence of Turki Alalshikh pulling the boxing strings, it could take a miracle for Mayweather to lose his spot ahead of 49-0 Rocky Marciano.
