FLOYD MAYWEATHER: I was coming straight ahead I was going to take some contact. I could have boxed and counter punched and made it boring, but this was for the fans. We were always going to let him throw big shots early on and then get him down the stretch, just like I always do.
It took us a little longer than we expected. But I guaranteed you I was going to score the knockout. In 21 years in the sport of boxing I had some great fights and some boring fights, but I will always go down as a winner and someone who could dissect fighters and follow the gameplan.
McGregor’s power was solid. I’ve been out for two years, and I told you all I’m not the same fighter. It wasn’t the type of power to dissuade me from coming forward otherwise I wouldn’t have come forward.
Everybody in this room knows I could have boxed him and counter-punched his head off. I wanted to put on a show and finish it.
I let the referee do his job. There was a lot of rabbit punching, a hell of a lot, but you live and learn. I told the referee in the back that he was going to be doing a lot of rabbit punching and that was my only concern – being punched in the back of the head.
At the end of the fifth round, I shoved him and said ‘You ain’t knocked me out yet, you said you were going to knock me out inside four’. It was just showmanship.
I didn’t do any sparring for the last month. No excuses, he fought a hell of a fight. But I broke him down. He was a hell of a fighter standing up, he kind of shocked me.
It was an injury [why I didn’t spar] and I wanted my hands to be 100 per cent. I wanted to able to hit him hard.
We broke all the pay-per-view records. You will never see me in the ring again. I wanted to break records and do different things. And tonight we broke the Mayweather-Pacquiao record for pay-per-view buys.
I’m looking forward to being a boxing trainer. I want to make fighters better and I want to teach them how to be a superstar inside the ring and out.
I’m very comfortable, I didn’t have to come back. I’m not a fool. If I see an opportunity to make $350m in 36 minutes then I’m going to do it. But that’s it. I won’t be back again.
Video: Showtime
