Floyd Mayweather Jr. not convinced with Gennady Golovkin as PPV star, says no fighter will duplicate his PPV feat
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is proud of his work as a boxer, especially his accomplishments as the best pay-per-view (PPV) star in the modern era of boxing. The undefeated American, who recently retired from the sport last September, is not holding back in calling out other boxers who want to be known as a PPV king, particularly Gennady Golovkin, who is being crowned by many as boxing’s next biggest star.
“What I did, it will never be duplicated. Never! I don't know what my numbers were for pay-per-view the first time out, but I just want to let the fighters know this, just because you can fight has nothing to do with selling tickets, putting asses in the seats, or becoming a pay-per-view star,” the always outspoken Mayweather Jr. told Ben Thompson of Fight Hype.
“It takes more than just being able to fight. It takes more than that. You have to have a certain aura about yourself, a certain charisma about yourself, a certain sales pitch about yourself; it takes a total package. The thing is, as far as boxing, it's all about taking risks and taking chances. I did it. I took risks.”
Mayweather Jr. went on to state that the 33-year-old Golovkin (34-0-0, 31 knockouts) who is from Kazakhstan, should go up in weight and challenge 31-year-old Andre Ward (28-0-0, 15 knockouts) for him to be convinced that indeed “Triple G” is a serious contender in being considered boxing’s best.
Golovkin currently campaigns in the middleweight division (160 pounds) and owns the International Boxing Organization (IBO), World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) belts. Meanwhile, Ward fights in the super middleweight division (168 pounds) and is the current title-holder of the WBA super middleweight crown.
Mayweather Jr. (49-0-0, 26 knockouts) earned about $700 million (AU $991.68M) during his professional boxing career that spanned from 1996 to 2015 making him the highest paid star in the history of boxing. His last big money fight came in the “Fight of the Century” against Manny Pacquiao last May when he earned over $250M (AU $354.17M) and the pair shattered records both in the PPV numbers and gate ticket sales.
Mayweather Jr. has the right to criticise Golovkin too; in the Kazakh fighter’s PPV debut bout against David Lemieux last October, only about 150,000 PPV buys were registered for what was touted as the fight that will bring Golovkin to mainstream boxing.
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