Floyd maintains he’s better than Ali, Robinson

MANILA, Philippines – Undefeated American fighter Floyd Mayweather, Jr. said he is not anxious about preserving his unblemished win-loss record against countryman Shane Mosley, with less than a week before they battle it out on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“Of course it's a great thing to be undefeated… But I don't consciously think about it when I'm preparing for the next fight,” he said in a Las Vegas Review-Journal (LVRJ) article by Steve Carp.

Mayweather, who has a 40-0 record (with 25 knockouts), said his perspective on maintaining his record is different.

“I don't think about the 0,” he noted. “I think about winning. Everything takes care of itself if you win.”

However, his father, Floyd Mayweather, Sr., thought otherwise.

“No one wants to lose their 0. I'm sure he thinks about it, and it motivates him. Fortunately for my son, it's so far, so good, and I don't see anyone taking that 0 away from him,” Floyd Sr. said.

Confident and ready

Reigning World Boxing Association (WBA) welterweight super champion Mosley, who has 46 wins (with 39 KOs) and 5 defeats, vowed to hand Mayweather his first career loss.

“I don't care about how fast [Mayweather] is or how good his defense is… I'm a boxer, a puncher. I can move. I can knock you out with both hands,” Mosley said in a Los Angeles Times article by Lance Pugmire.

He added that he was ready to fight the former pound-for-pound king.

Mosley’s WBA crown, however, will “technically” not be at stake in the “Who R U Picking?” main event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

It will only be at stake for Mosley because Mayweather did not pay the sanctioning fee.

Really better than the greats

Mayweather, meanwhile, maintained his pronouncement that he is better than boxing legends Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson.

He told LVRJ: “I take my hat off to them. I've got respect for Sugar Ray Robinson. I've got respect for Muhammad Ali. But I'm a man like they're men. I put on my pants just like they put on their pants. What makes them any better than I am? Because they fought a thousand fights?”

“In my era, it's totally different. It's pay per view now, so things change. It's out with the old and in with the new. Like I said, Muhammad Ali is one hell of a fighter. But Floyd Mayweather is the best. Sugar Ray Robinson is one hell of a fighter. But Floyd Mayweather is the best.”

Mosley earlier reacted to Mayweather’s statements on being better than Ali and Robinson.

“I think that it's important that it's not for you; it's not for myself to tell everybody that ‘I'm the greatest’… You're not just tooting your own horn and saying, ‘Oh I'm the greatest,’” he said in a recent teleconference with the media.

Mosley’s trainer, Naazim Richardson, for his part, told the LA Times: “So now I'm telling everyone I know Mayweather is the best of all time. Better than Ali. Better than Frazier. The best that God has ever molded. But if he's the greatest of all time and we knock him on his back, what's that make Shane?”

Mosley also said that it is the public and not the fighter who should decide on which boxer is the greatest.

 “When the people start deciding that Sugar Robinson is the greatest or Muhammad Ali is the greatest, it's the people that have spoken,” noted Mosley. -- With reports from PhilBoxing.com, Los Angeles Times and Las Vegas Review-Journal