By Kieran Mulvaney, Reuters
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Floyd Mayweather Jr., who has never lost a professional bout, made a Muhammad Ali-like claim on Tuesday, the former five-weight world champion declaring himself the world's best ever boxer.
"I don't care what fighter you're going to name, I'm the best," he told reporters ahead of his welterweight clash with fellow American Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Saturday.
"Throw a name at me and I'll break his stats down. Whatever they've done I've done it quicker, with no."
While nobody from the media offered a name for comparison, Mayweather offered an appraisal of Ali, referencing his loss to Leon Spinks in 1978 for the world heavyweight title in his opponent's eighth fight.
"Leon Spinks with seven wins beat you?" said Mayweather, as if posing the question to Ali, who often declared himself 'the greatest'.
Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) not only anticipates victory over three-time champion Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) but said he would defeat every future opponent who challenged him.
"The ultimate goal in boxing right now is to find a fighter that can beat Floyd Mayweather," he said. "And it's not going to happen."
Despite winning every one of his professional contests, Mayweather said he still feels he has not received the credit he deserves.
He expressed bewilderment that the Boxing Writers Association of America recently voted Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines, and not him, as Fighter of the Decade.
A proposed showdown between Mayweather and Pacquiao fell through in January after the Filipino refused to yield to the American's demand for random blood testing within three weeks of the bout.
"How'd he get fighter of the decade and he got outboxed by Erik Morales (in a March 2005 loss) and had two knock-down, drag-out fights with Juan Manuel Marquez? I just don't get it," he said.
"All I did was constantly beat whoever they put in front of me ... I'm never going to get my just due. All these fighters they put in front of me, they've all been cake walks for me."
Mayweather, who won his first world title -- the WBC super featherweight crown in 1998 -- expects critics to be similarly dismissive should he emerge victorious against the 38-year-old Mosley this weekend.
But he said such criticism would be irrelevant when the time came to fight.
"I'm Floyd Mayweather," he said. "All the rest of them are just fighters."
(Editing by Frank Pingue)
© Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved.
Source: ca.reuters.com
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