Floyd Mayweather had predicted that Manny Pacquiao would overtake him in the stakes of beating the most world champions during a career.
At present, Mayweather has toppled 23 world champions during his career. At one point beating 16 in a row, also a record.
But it’s the overall mark that Pacquiao, who defeated Keith Thurman to oust a 22nd career world title-holder last July, will ‘probably’ overhaul – according to the ‘Money’ Man.
“See, they say, ‘the great must fight the greats.’ Well, look in the history books. You’ll see nobody beat more world champs than Floyd Mayweather,” he told fighthype.com.
“Even with that being said, Pacquiao eventually probably would (beat that record). But guess what, Pacquiao was a professional before me.
“With everything he has accomplished. Hopefully, he’s made some smart investments.”
Floyd Mayweather
Before facing Andre Berto in his final professional bout’ in 2015, Mayweather stated his belief that his C.V. wouldn’t be appreciated until he was gone.
Gearing up to tackle Berto in a final bow, Mayweather said his achievement was better than that of Julio Cesar Chavez due to the number of bouts.
“If I’m not mistaken, I don’t know, and you guys let me know. But I think I beat more world champions than any other fighter at 22. This is going to be 23,” said Mayweather.
“Guys like Chavez, it took guys like him 100 fights where it took me less than half of his fights. And that was one of the guys I looked up to.
“I loved to see him fight. He was a remarkable fighter. He’s a guy who paved the way for me in boxing.
“When I retire, I think they will appreciate me more. When I got into the sport, it was all about heavyweights. I brought in all big money to the smaller weight classes.
“Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Canelo. You can go down the list. All of them got their biggest payday with Floyd Mayweather.”
Mentioning Oscar, who had 19 victories over world champions on his record, that was the night that changed everything for Floyd.
A fight on May 5th of 2007 represented a changing of the guard. The ex-pound-for-pound king was seen as the new Pay-Per-View top dog.
MAYWEATHER vs PACQUIAO
Pacquiao, the Filipino, is still competing and being linked to facing exclusively those with world title status, past or present, for his return.
Errol Spence, Mikey, Danny Garcia, and Terence Crawford would allow the ‘Pacman’ to equal his arch-rival.
Of course, the Filipino Senator has no plans to retire yet. And he needs just two more wins to seal the benchmark.
COVID-19 putting a block on boxing has given Mayweather a short reprieve. But the only way the 43-year-old could set the record out of sight would be to face Pacquiao himself.
