Floyd Mayweather reveals he only had FIVE ‘tough’ fights in entire career as Conor McGregor and Canelo Alvarez snubbed
FLOYD MAYWEATHER can count on one hand the amount of tough fights he had during his legendary career.
Money officially retired in 2017 at 50-0 – a record that is yet to be matched – with world titles in FIVE different weights.
Up until his final bout – against UFC star Conor McGregor – the American beat 15 champions in a row.
But he named Emanuel Augustus – who famously adopted the Drunken Master technique – as one of his toughest fights.
Mayweather beat Augustus in 2000 but credited the unorthodox showboater as one of his hardest opponents alongside Miguel Cotto.
He told FightHype: “I probably had six tough fights, if that, probably five tough fights.
“Cotto was a tough fight, Emmanuel Augustus was tough, Cotto you know he was tough.
“[I can name] those two that I can name off the top of my head, probably a few other fights but we got through it.”
Augustus would act drunk during fights, prancing awkwardly around the ring to try and throw off his opponents.
And even Mayweather struggled to cope with Augustus’ unusual style in their bout – which he won on points.
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Augustus finished his 78-fight career with 38 wins, 34 defeats and six draws – losing his last six bouts before his 2011 retirement.
Cotto meanwhile is a four-division world champion who faced Mayweather for the WBA light-middleweight title in 2012.
Mayweather came up from welterweight to win over 12 rounds – but he was bloodied from the nose due to Cotto’s effective roughouse tactics.
Cotto retired in 2017 after an iconic career just months after Mayweather’s final bout.
Mayweather – who beat Canelo Alvarez in 2013 – left the sport as the richest boxer of all time – boasting of earnings over £1BILLION.
Around half of that was made for his pair of wins over Manny Pacquiao and McGregor.
The Pacquiao fight was over five years in the making and resulted in Mayweather outfoxing his great rival over the distance.
And he told The Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast: “The best fighter I ever fought, probably was Manny Pacquiao. Because of his movement.
“But he’s a helluva’ fighter and I can see why he won so many fights and I can see why he’s going down as a Hall of Famer, it’s just certain moves that he made.
“But the roughest fighter probably was a guy named Emanuel Augustus. The Drunken Master. He was tough.
“And Miguel Cotto was very, very physically strong. So, you’ve got different fighters, different days you feel different ways.
“So some days you can go over there and you may not feel that good but you go over there and feel superb.”
Mayweather – snubbing McGregor from any list of tough fights – continues to box in exhibition bouts after retiring.
His last came in August 2024 against the grandson of notorious New York crime boss John Gotti.