FLOYD MAYWEATHER is operating as a mentor for Adrien Broner. Mayweather was famously undefeated and, although Broner has suffered a couple of losses, Floyd still has a lot faith in him.

“I gradually moved up. Because that’s the way you’re supposed to do. He made a big jump and I’m going to be honest, [Marcos] Maidana’s one of the hardest hitting mother******s I ever fought and Adrien Broner can vouch for that. For Adrien Broner to get knocked down by Maidana and hop up and continue to fight,” Mayweather said, “I just want to tell Adrien I’m proud of him. Through all the stuff that he’s been through he’s still able to go out there and perform.”

He also had no gripes with Broner’s outspoken behaviour. “I don’t want to be controlled,” he said. “No athlete out there should be controlled and told what to say.”

He advised, “If you’re the best, you say you’re the best.”

He expects a good fight from Broner against Adrian Granados in February. “We will see the best of Adrien Broner. The guy that he’s fighting is not a pushover,” Floyd said.

Mayweather had some general thoughts on boxing today. “Most of these fighters nowadays, all they do is bitch and complain about the money. ‘We want what Mayweather got.’ Well, you’ve got to take the same road Mayweather took. I fought 17 times in a year and a half. That’s the reason why I fought for the world title and I fought the best guy at the weight,” he admonished.

He indicated little temptation to return to fray himself. “Then once you get to a certain point, a certain pinnacle, where you accomplish everything that want to accomplish, then you’ve got to say what next. Then you want to see everybody around you win and accomplish certain things. Because there’s nothing else I can really do in the sport no more,” he said.