By Miguel Rivera

World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman is concerned with the recent statements that were made by Floyd Mayweather, who made it known that he's entertaining the idea of fighting in the UFC.

The former five division world champion retired from the sport in 2017, after breaking a two-year retirement to return to the ring against UFC superstar Conor McGregor.

McGregor, who was making his professional debut in boxing, was stopped in the tenth round.

The fight with McGregor did tremendous business - with 4.4 million pay-per-view purchases - making it the second highest PPV buyrate in history - with 2015's Mayweather-Pacquiao still holding the record at 4.6 million buys.

Mayweather has been dropping hints for months with respect to an MMA debut.

And then last week during a Showtime televised interview, he said a potential return would never take place in a boxing ring, but in a UFC cage.

"It is possible I do come back, but if I do come back, it has to be in the Octagon," Mayweather said. "Absolutely [I'm serious]. If the money is right. You got to talk to Showtime, CBS. The money is going to be crazy."

Sulaiman, who has a close relationship with Mayweather, believes the 41-year-old fighter would place the entire sport of boxing at risk - with the obvious possibility that Mayweather - regarded as the best boxer of this generation - enters the cage and gets destroyed.

"It would be terrible. The chapter [of his career already] closed with a precious golden flourish on a historic day for boxing. If he goes to the cage right now, Mayweather is representing boxing and I would feel sorry for him. I hope he is not doing this because his motivation is money, something I can not blame him for," Mayweather said.

"Of course he could win, but there is a significant risk because that is not his discipline. It would be an excessive risk to his health. If he decides to do this, we will support him, although we would prefer that he doesn't because this is not boxing and his physical integrity and the greatness of our sport are placed at risk."