Heading into Saturday’s fight against Conor McGregor, Floyd Mayweather continued to dodge the question on what the illustrious 50-0 record would really mean to him.
The question was asked again by Showtime Boxing’s Jim Gray moments after Mayweather notched No. 50, winning by 10th round TKO over UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. Gray went on the attack, grilling Mayweather on what it meant to achieve the 50-0 mark against someone who’d never fought in a boxing match.
“A win is a win, no matter how you get it,” Mayweather said to Gray. “Rocky Marciano is a legend and I look forward to going into the Hall of Fame one day.”
The truth is, Mayweather didn’t have to go face a Canelo Alvarez or a Gennady Golovkin to “earn” the legitimacy in his record. He could have faced a top-10 fighter and it would have held the same gravity as fighting either of those two guys.
He will sleep comfortably at night knowing he’s undefeated. But deep inside, Mayweather probably knows the 50-0 record will come complete with an asterisk.
During Gray’s questioning, I thought back to when “The Money Fight” was announced. The first thought was, “How could Mayweather believe facing McGregor would be the proper way to pass Marciano?’
Then I remembered: Mayweather’s mission statement has always been about taking the easiest path, to make the most money, knowing he would remain undefeated — unless he slipped on a banana peel in the ring, tore his ACL and the fight would be stopped.
In his final fight in 1955, Marciano knocked out the legendary, all-time great Archie Moore to retire as the heavyweight champion of the world.
When you accomplish a historic feat, it’s only “ethical” to do it against the best — not against someone who should be fighting in the amateur ranks. Mayweather’s fight with McGregor was a glorified exhibition.
No one wanted to say that to Mayweather throughout the build-up. The truth is, it was an exhibition like “The Battle of Sexes” tennis match with Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King in 1976.
The Mayweather faithful will say he beat a fighter who was undefeated standing up, is a two-division UFC champion (and current 155-pound titleholder) and had won three rounds on one judges scorecard and was the majority on media row.
Maybe it’s unfair to Mayweather to truly legitimize McGregor as a boxer, just as it’s unfair to really discredit McGregor as a nobody in the same breath. But the truth is, Mayweather wouldn’t have it any other way. Mayweather did what he’s done in the last 10-plus years: taking an easier path.
Blemished as it may be, the 50-0 record belongs to Mayweather and Mayweather alone.
After all, records are made to be broken. They aren’t made to last forever. There’s always someone who’s going to be better.
