It's a good thing Floyd Mayweather (47-0) is not a grizzled veteran cop, otherwise he might have just signed his own death warrant.
The Washington Post reports that Mayweather -- with his upcoming ludicrous payday -- is thinking of retirement in Sept. 2015 when his six-fight contract with Showtime is satisfied, ending his illustrious career 18 years and 11 months after his professional debut in 1996.
"Money," of course, will complete the fifth fight on that deal this weekend (Sat., May 2, 2015) when he collides with his generational contemporary, Manny Pacquiao, for the first (and potentially last) time inside MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, for unquestioned Welterweight supremacy.
What makes his decision to continue on after Pacquiao, should he defeat the eight-division Filipino firecracker, interesting from a superstitious standpoint is that, while 48-0 can and has been done, going for 49-0 is a perilous task.
Why? "The Curse of Marciano."
The great Rocky Marciano ended his career 49-0, the only undefeated heavyweight champion in the history of the sport. While there have been exceptions -- such as the 51-0-1 strawweight great Ricardo Lopez and Julio Cesar Chavez's 87 consecutive wins -- those who try to beat "The Rock from Brockton" tend to run into trouble.
Larry Holmes had 20 fights as the heavyweight champion of the world and was sitting on a record of 48-0 going into his bout with Michael Spinks. In the 1985 Ring Magazine "Upset of the Year," Spinks lifted both the IBF and The Ring titles, squashing Holmes' dream of matching Marciano.
The great Indonesian featherweight champion Chris John also found his reign cut short when Simpiwe Vetyeka dropped his record to 48-1-3.
Paul Spadafora was 48-0-1 when he lost to Johan Perez, Dariusz Michalczewski was 48-0 when he lost to Julio Cesar Gonzalez. Those lucky few who did get to 49 didn't fare much better, with Brien Nielsen getting knocked out at 49-0 and Roy Jones Jr. getting knocked out at 49-1 with said loss being a disqualification.
In short, Mayweather might be wise to retire with a win over Pacquiao and get out while the gettin' is good. He would honestly have nothing left to prove ... just hundreds of millions to lose.
If "Money" tries to push it, who knows what might happen. After all, this is boxing, you know.
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