By Edward Chaykovsky
Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach expect WBC/WBA welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26KOs) to continue fighting to his 50th pro bout.
Mayweather will return on September 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. He will face heavy underdog Andre Berto in the main event of a Showtime Pay-Per-View event.
The fight with Berto is being marketed as the "final fight" of Mayweather's long career. Many industry insiders agree with Roach's opinion. They expect him to continue fighting until at least fight number 50, which if he's successful will snap the unbeaten 49-0 record of heavyweight great Rocky Marciano.
“I don’t know where Mayweather’s going right now. I don’t think he’ll stop at 49 fights, I think he’ll fight to 50. I’m hoping that he promotes himself, maybe if he does he can make more money,” Roach told Boxing News.
In Mayweather's last fight, on May 2nd, he won a twelve round decision over Roach's star fighter Manny Pacquiao.
Roach feels Pacquiao would have easily won - if not for a right shoulder injury. Pacquiao will return in 2016 and many speculate that a rematch with Mayweather might happen - due to the half billion dollars in revenue that was generated by the first encounter.
“Manny would do much better in a rematch, if the shoulder gets better. We were doing well until the shoulder went in the fourth round and we had a tough time after that. I do think we can beat Mayweather 100%," Roach said.