Boxing
Floyd Mayweather Jr. says he's 'coming out of retirement in 2020'
Saturday night features one of the biggest fights of the year as Deontay Wilder meets Luis Ortiz in a rematch for the WBC heavyweight title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. But a particular Las Vegas resident is once again front and center of the sport.
Late Thursday night, Floyd Mayweather Jr. took to his Instagram account with two posts. The first was of him and UFC President Dana White at the NBA game between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers with the former pound-for-pound great teasing that they would be "working together again to bring the world another spectacular event in 2020."
A short time later, Mayweather created another post with a photo of him wearing his boxing gear and saying, "Coming out of retirement in 2020".
What the post means is unclear at this time, but the caption contradicts a statement Mayweather made to Reuters on Tuesday that he wouldn't be returning to the ring due to wanting to maintain his health.
"I've got calls to get back into the ring, but my health is my wealth," Mayweather told Reuters. "Boxing is a very, very brutal sport. In the last few years, a lot of fighters have died inside that squared circle."
"You have got to know when to hang it up," Mayweather added. "I had a great career."
Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) hasn't been in a competitive fight since defeating Andre Berto in September 2015 in what appeared to be his final bout. But 23 months later, in August 2017, the five-division world champion returned and beat Conor McGregor by 10th-round TKO. The pay-per-view sold over 4.3 million buys, second only to Mayweather's win over Manny Pacquaio in May 2015.
The 43-year-old returned to the ring on New Year's Eve last year in a three-round exhibition in Tokyo, stopping Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in the first round.
