You are in > manchester.com  > News > Mayweather: I am the greatest

Boxing

Mayweather: I am the greatest

23/11/2007

Floyd Mayweather has claimed he is 'better than Muhammad Ali' in the build-up to his much-hyped fight against Ricky Hatton next month.

The two undefeated boxers take on one another in Las Vegas on December 8th and have been involved in a worldwide media circus to promote the welterweight bout.

Mayweather's latest comments are likely to rile boxing aficionados across the world after he claimed to be more talented than all-time greats of the calibre of Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson and Rocky Marciano.

"I can quit today and be known as the best fighter that ever lived," the 30-year-old American boldly claimed.

"I respect what Robinson and Ali did for the sport, but I am the greatest and this is my time."

Hatton has been less outspoken than his opponent in the lead-up to the fight, choosing instead to point to his previous performances when he was unfancied, against the likes of Kostya Tszyu and Jose Luis Castillo.

But Mayweather chose to call out the Manchester fighter's style in the ring, as well as talk up his own abilities.

"I didn't get the chance to watch him against Kostya Tszyu," Mayweather continued.

"I already knew what it was though - punch, hold, punch, hold."

Mayweather also called Hatton a "very dirty fighter" based on what he had seen of the fight.

The showdown between the pair is one of boxing's most highly-anticipated fights of recent times and it has been mooted that the takings from gate receipts and pay-per-view TV orders may be on course to break records.