by David P. Greisman

Floyd Mayweather is 37 years old, has been a professional prizefighter since he was 19 years old, and had trained and competed as an amateur long before that. He’s earning more money through boxing than any other athlete in his sport, but it’s still fair to wonder how he maintains the will and energy and the love for fighting after all these years and as he grows older.

“Of course I’m very comfortable. I don’t have to fight anymore. Different days you have different feelings. It’s no different from you guys. Some days you feel like you may write a story and are like, ‘This story wasn’t really that good,’ and other people may comment and tell you, ‘You know what, that story was immaculate,’ but you may not feel that was your best work.

“Some days I go to the gym, I may spar, I may box, and I feel like, ‘You know, it wasn’t my best day. I can do better.’ But some days I can be hard on myself. I’m my own biggest critic.”

He was asked whether he still hopes to fight through his contract with Showtime. The Sept. 13 rematch with Marcos Maidana will be the fourth pay-per-view in a six-fight deal.

“The only thing I want to do is just take one fight at a time as each fight presents itself,” he said.

Boxing’s been his life. What would he do were he to hang up his gloves?

“I’m really not sure. I’m really not sure,” he said. “As my children get older, I know they got a lot of things that they want to do, goals they want to accomplish out there in the real world, and hopefully I can be, not a good father, but a great father. A great father stand behind them and help them get to where they’re trying to get to in life.”

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com