Mayweather insists: I won’t fight again

WASHINGTON—Retired unbeaten former boxing champion Floyd Mayweather says he has retired for good and has no hunger for a ring return, adding he has too much fun traveling the world.

Mayweather told USA Today in New York on Wednesday that he has no need for the money or glory another bout could offer, especially a rematch with 37-year-old Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao, whom he defeated 18 months ago.

“A lot of fighters in the sport of boxing may want to retire, but they have to fight because they have to,” Mayweather said. “I don’t have to fight.

“I just made $300 million for fighting Pacquiao. I’m OK. Like I said before, I’m happy with my position. Once again, the money don’t make me. I make money. I’m well off. I make smart moves and like I said before, I’m happy with where my career has went.”

Mayweather, 39, said he attended Pacquaio’s victory over Jessie Vargas earlier this month in Las Vegas “at the last minute” to “do something different” with his daughter.

Mayweather prompted talk of a Pacquiao rematch by saying the door was “absolutely” open to a comeback after he called it quits in September of last year upon defeating Andre Berto to finish 49-0.

Mayweather admits he tosses out differing notions on the comeback possibilities depending on how he feels any given day.

“Different days, I say different things. Different days, I feel different ways,” Mayweather said. “Can Floyd Mayweather contradict himself? Absolutely. So that’s why I know when I contradict myself, it doesn’t mean I’m crazy.

“I’m only human. I’m not perfect. God only made one thing perfect: my boxing record.”

And that’s why it might not ever reach 50-0.]Meanwhile, the right to be described as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world is on the line Saturday when Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev meet in Las Vegas in a battle of the unbeatens.

Ward, the 2004 Olympic champion and former super middleweight world champion, is aiming to grab Kovalev’s unified light-heavyweight crown in a long-anticipated collision at the T-Mobile Arena.

The bout is being promoted under the banner “Pound for Pound,” a 12-round scrap billed as a showdown to determine who deserves to be regarded as the best fighter on the planet.

While some critics might be inclined to argue in favor of other fighters—notably the undefeated four-division world champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez—few will attempt to make that case in Las Vegas this weekend.

For Ward (30-0, 15 knockouts), the logic is simple. Both he and Russia’s Kovalev (30-0, 26 knockouts) have beaten the best that their preferred divisions have to offer. The pound-for-pound tag is justified.

“It’s hard to say definitively, but I think it would be really, really hard to argue against (the winner being pound-for-pound king),” Ward said.

“I’m saying this based on both of our resumes and based on the fact that we are both willing to step up and face each other at this stage of our career.

“We’re both 30-0 and we both have a lot to gain and a lot to lose. I think that the winner of this fight should be pound-for-pound number one,” the 32-year-old added.

Kovalev, 33, who has bludgeoned his way to the top of his division on the back of brutal punching power in both fists, meanwhile says he is preparing for “war.”

“This fight is a great opportunity for both of us to show the boxing world who is the best pound-for-pound,” Kovalev said. “It’s going to be a war between us.”

After an 18-month layoff, Ward fights for the third time in 17 months, his most recent triumph a unanimous decision over Colombia’s Alexander Brand three months ago before a hometown crowd in Oakland, California.

Ward is adamant that the bout will be more than just a clash of styles — his elusiveness versus the raw power of Kovalev.

“If it was just about me being a neutralizer some of these big punchers would walk right through me. There’s more to me than that,” Ward said. “He’s not a brawler. He thinks in there. We’re ready for whatever he brings. That’s the key. It’s about making constant adjustments.

“There’s a lot at stake. It’s going to come down to who wants it more.”

Kovalev, 33, has long sought a meeting with Haitian-born Canadian southpaw Adonis Stevenson, the World Boxing Council champion who is 28-1 with 23 knockouts.

However, when no deal could be struck, Kovalev surrendered his mandatory challenger rights to face a fighter he said he thinks will be his toughest foe yet.

“He has never lost before. But it’s my job. Let me do it and break his zero,” Kovalev said. “I don’t have any different strategy. My strategy is just to win.

“He’s in the way of my goals and my dreams. I can’t give this to him. I want to destroy him.”