FLOYD MAYWEATHER insists he decided against knocking out Conor McGregor early so the pair could have a money-spinning rematch.
The 43-year-old American came out of retirement to beat the UFC star in ten rounds in 2017 before hanging up his gloves again.
McGregor started well, winning some of the opening rounds before the exhausted ring novice was picked apart by Mayweather, who barley shed a sweat until the finish.
Mayweather – who claimed he only did push ups and sit ups as training for the fight – is adamant he could have ended the bout whenever he pleased.
But with the possibility of a lucrative rematch taking place afterwards, the multi-millionaire decided to keep the fight competitive.
He told Drink Champs: “I took it serious, but I wanted to have some fun in the fight and I wanted to entertain the people.
“You have to give the people a show, so I gave the people a show.
“If I wanted to go out there and f*** him up and blaze him right out the gate, I could’ve did that. But my thing is this, if I would’ve did that, then it wouldn’t be probably a part two.”
After Mayweather’s Las Vegas win, he returned a year later in an exhibition bout against Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in Tokyo.
The American legend then announced in 2019 he was “coming out of retirement in 2020” to work with UFC boss Dana White.
Mayweather revealed he has no intentions of facing boxers, believing he has nothing left to prove against anyone in the sport, and suggested only crossover bouts against UFC stars like McGregor or Khabib Nurmagomedov will bring him back to the ring.
Next year, Mayweather is set to compete at an MMA event at the Tokyo Dome called Mega 20201. However, it is not known in what capacity he is fighting – boxing or MMA.
