Undefeated American boxer Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. claimed that he had ‘five ways to beat’ eight-division and world champion Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao in their much-awaited fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 2 (May 3 in the Philippines).
“There are five ways to beat him. There’s no way to beat me. Choose the weight class, put him in front of me, I’ll defeat him,” Mayweather said in an interview with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. “Same mentality on May 2nd. Put him in front of me, I’ll defeat him.”
Mayweather went on as to believing that he is the best fighter in the ring, even better than Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson.
“No one ever brainwashed me to make me believe Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali were better than me,” he said. “No one can ever brainwash me and tell me that.”
“But for me, to give a sport my whole life… to say there’s someone better than me, absolutely not,” he added.
Mayweather, however, admitted honoring the two boxers as they were the ones who laid the foundation of the sport.
“But one thing I will do, I’m going to take my hat off to them and respect those guys because those are the guys that paved the way for me to be where I am today,” he said.
When told that Pacquiao claimed to be more worried with his fights with Miguel Cotto, Oscar De La Hoya and Antonio Margarito than he is for the upcoming fight, Mayweather was just ‘glad.’
“I’m glad. I want him to approach just like that. Because the same [guy] that kicked his ass Marquez? You seen what I did to him,” he recalled. “I want him to approach it like he’s not nervous.”
It can be remembered Juan Miguel Marquez was able to defeat Pacquiao when the iconic Filipino boxer recklessly walked into a right hand toward the end of the sixth round of their match. Mayweather, on the other hand, defeated Marquez in a 12-round rout.
“I’m going to win on May 2. I’m going to win,” he asserted. “[But], I don’t wanna just win. I wanna do it in such beautiful fashion. I want to do it with such class, such grace.”
Should Mayweather defeat Pacquiao and then his last fight, he will then have a perfect 49-0 record.