A 15-time world champion, Mayweather has gone on to contest several exhibition fights against amateur boxers, including a non-scored bout against Paul’s brother Logan. The Olympic bronze medalist maintains a 3-0 record from three scored outings.
In the professional ranks, highly-anticipated meetings between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, plus Fury versus Oleksandr Usyk, have not happened over recent years. Paul blames Mayweather for setting a poor precedent for his predecessors.
“It’s annoying, man,” he told Sky Sports. “I think in boxing the fighters are not willing to risk their undefeated record and to put it all on the line. Their legacy and being undefeated is more important to them because Floyd Mayweather set that example for the sport.
READ MORE: John Fury points finger at Oleksandr Usyk for Tyson Fury bout collapse
Paul continued: “So, if you lose, you’re kind of like swept under the rug in boxing. But more champions should go and fight other big names. That’s why I respect Ryan Garcia for even taking the (Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis) fight.
“Even though he lost, it doesn’t matter, he did what a lot of other fighters in boxing aren’t doing, which is making big fights happen, and it’s great for the sport.”
As Paul alludes to, undefeated boxers Garcia and Davis fought each other last month despite both fighters sporting undefeated records entering the bout. Tank, the WBA (Regular) lightweight champion won by knockout with a body shot to former WBC interim lightweight champion Garcia’s abdomen in the seventh round.
In the heavyweight division, Joshua and Fury do not seem set to be fighting each other anytime soon. The former beat Jermaine Franklin by unanimous decision a month ago, while Fury last fought in December, knocking out Derek Chisora.
A month before that, negotiations between Fury and Usyk ended without an agreement. That denied the sport an undisputed bout between the two fighters holding world championships in the division.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are, though, said to be planning a blockbuster four-man heavyweight tournament which would no doubt please Paul and see the best fighting the best. A prospective tournament would reportedly see Fury, Joshua, Usyk and former WBC champion Deontay Wilder all heading to the Middle East.
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