Why did Mayweather retire in 2008?

[TrueBox]

The welterweight division was the home of world class killers such as Cotto, Margarito, Williams, Clottey & Mosley in ‘08.

Floyd didn’t want to get in the ring with the above mentioned names.

[4truth]

3 months before the agreed upon rematch with Oscar he retired. The month after Oscar retired Floyd unretired.

draw your own conclusions

[powershots]

making calculating moves = cherry picking

[QballLobo]

He originally agreed to a rematch with De La Hoya for fall 2008.
After Floyd Sr. was announced as ODLH trainer Floyd walked away.
I believe Floyd felt he wouldn’t get a decision on a second go around as the narrative would be Floyd Sr. would be the difference for Oscar. He wasn’t going to KO Oscar.

[Curt Henning]

one thing is for sure...floyd retired and in his 40s and still dominating threads on the 1st page

if you have an agenda against floyd and dislike him he took a break cause he was shook of a bunch of guys...and you will never face reality of believe anything different

bob arum confirmed when floyd bought out his contract with top rank that floyd agreed to fight margarito...but floyd wanted future guarantees for hatton and cotto fights and wanted something like 6-8 total million more than bob would guarantee....so they agreed to split....at the time bob thought floyd was going to work with TR in the future still and use them to promote his fights the way floyd ended up using golden boy to do it...when floyd went with golden boy he became furious and perpetuated a myth floyd was scared even though hes quoted in an archived rafael article as saying floyd agreed......in the end bob understimated and undervalued floyd

margarito stinks and would be able to beat floyd......as others have mentioned...williams was outboxed by quintana........williams didnt watch tapes of fighters and didnt train to defend....he simply trained to throw punches in volume....a technician like floyd would have picked him apart once he figured him out

bob wasnt really about to put cotto in the ring with floyd either.....we all know cottos reaction after he watched floyd batter gatti...he said he wasnt ready ....and after floyd left TR and bob got pissed bob wasnt about to make that fight

[Roadblock]

Mental and physical fatigue from boxing his whole life.

Exactly, lots of career fighters born into the sport get sick and tired of it then some time away and the sparks ignite again, takes extreme motivation to do this at the level he was at day in day out for your whole youth.

[Curt Henning]

Exactly, lots of career fighters born into the sport get sick and tired of it then some time away and the sparks ignite again, takes extreme motivation to do this at the level he was at day in day out for your whole youth.

yes...and combine it with hand injuries that cause excruciating pain

i remember paule talking years ago about his hand injuries...he was another guy that kept having to have surgeries...he said he took the cotto fight before he was probably really ready because he didnt know if an opportunity like that would come up again seeing as how he wasnt sure his hands would hold up

[lolpz]

To me it seemed like a well thought out and calculated chess move he made mentally ahead and going into the Hatton fight.

But there are multiple reasons which led to the decision and if I had to guess they are the following:

The combination of

-Making a lot of money in a short period of time

-Having conquered 5 weight classes(achievement wise)

-Wanting to preserve his body which began to break down (In pursuit of longevity)

-Wanting to venture out elsewhere business wise to try to grow his name and brand outside of boxing, and seeing how successful he was in this which would have helped weigh if he should continue his career in boxing as his body began to break down

-Give himself a break from boxing in general which is something he had been doing his entire life

-I also don't doubt the stiff competition in the red hot welterweight division at the time was also a factor considering all other things I mentioned, possibly wanting to skip having to face all of them and simply just choosing to fight the winner of the "battle royale" if he DID decide to come back. Which he did. (Marquez, then Mosley, then tried to fight Pac, then Cotto, then eventually Pac)

Marquez ??? Pac
Mosley ??? Cotto
Mosley > Margarito
Pac > Cotto


He is now retired as the biggest name in boxing and highest paid athlete in sports history. Think it turned it great for him.

[Scipio2009]

The De La Hoya rematch fell through because Floyd felt he deserved a bigger slice, he believed he was the new sheriff in town after beating the Cash Cow. DLH didn't budge so Floyd was like fk it and went to WWE lol

It's true his body did need a break and I think he wanted to enjoy his newfound celebrity after transcending the sport with his victories over DLH and Hatton in 07.

So the plan changed to DLH fighting the winner of Margarito vs Cotto. Hoping Cotto would come through with the W. And Floyd wasn't going to fight Cotto because he was still with TR and didn't want to give Arum a dime. After Plasterito wrecked Cotto's prime, DLH chose Manny who last fought at 135 at that point. Ultimate cherry pick gone wrong

Fast forward to May 2009 I believe the day of or the day after Manny lit Hatton up, Floyd announces his comeback against Marquez for July. His choice of opponent in other words says "I'm coming for you Manny" because during his absence boxing media and publications crowned Manny as pound for pound king. In fact they called the promo for Marquez fight "pound for pound" both of them taking partial shots at Manny. And not forgetting Floyd's infamous Hitlist of the all fighters he was planning to take out. Good times

People forget that, as brilliant a star Floyd was in boxing, it took Dancing with the Stars and the WrestleMania "main event" against Big Show for Floyd "Money" Mayweather to truly break out as a crossover star.

[Roadblock]

People forget that, as brilliant a star Floyd was in boxing, it took Dancing with the Stars and the WrestleMania "main event" against Big Show for Floyd "Money" Mayweather to truly break out as a crossover star.

Everything has a path at no point does any point take away from the end. This is life !