Floyd Mayweather toyed and tormented Andre Berto both verbally and physically... So why is he hanging up his gloves now?

Floyd Mayweather (Money Man)

The clamour for Floyd Mayweather to perform a U-turn as deft and speedy as his manoeuvres in the ring is coming to a crescendo in the wake of the most entertaining cameo of his phenomenal career.

The final two rounds of what he insists will be his last fight saw Mayweather show-boating like Muhammad Ali in his pomp.

He shed his cloak as the greatest defensive boxer to light up the Las Vegas Strip with dazzling punch combinations.

Although apparently headed for retirement, he danced round a perfect foil for his talent.

He did not just overwhelmingly out-point two-time former world champion Andre Berto on Saturday night. 

He played like a matador with a bull, toyed and tormented him verbally as well physically, before raising his own arm in victory well before this fight was over.

Berto is nick-named The Beast and this was tantamount to animal cruelty.

It was also as magical as anything conjured up by famed illusionist David Copperfield in another room in the MGM Grand.

At 38, Mayweather is as sharp of mind and skill as at any time in the 19 years in which he has won a dozen world titles in five weight divisions.

And now, at last, he is feeling the love as well as the Money.

Mayweather entered an arena scaled down to below 14,000 because of public perception of Berto as an unworthy, opponent for such a significant occasion.

He left it with the crowd on its feet in raucous rapture over his gifts.

Here is the adulation he has always craved. Even some who have deemed him arrogant joined in chanting the initials by which he identifies himself on his baseball caps and T-shirts – T.B.E for The Best Ever.

So why walk away now?

JEFF POWELL'S TOP 10

1) Sugar Ray Robinson

2) Muhammad Ali

3) Sugar Ray Leonard

4) Marvin Hagler

5) Thomas Hearns

6) Roberto Duran

7) Evander Holyfield

8) Julio Cesar Chavez (Snr)

9) Larry Holmes

10) Joe Frazier

After equalling Rocky Marciano’s legendary record of retiring as an undefeated 49-0 world champion, he contained his emotions and said: ‘I’ve accomplished everything. There’s nothing left to prove.’

Well, just one small point as it happens.

As the highlight of his performance he threw in an Al shuffle.

It was as if to say: ‘So who’s The Greatest?’

Even though he said he would leave that for the fans to decide, he nudged that opinion with a number of declarations.

‘It’s all about the IQ,’ he said. ‘I’m light years ahead of every other fighter. I’m the man from the year 3,000.’

When pressed to nominate his hardest fight, he said: ‘None. I was comfortable in every one of the 49. If there was ever a problem it was because I created it myself.’

He added: ‘As soon as each fight started they found out they weren’t in the ring with some ordinary Joe. It was me, T.B.E.’

Berto discovered that as Mayweather lured him in, stung him with crisp left hooks, sharp rights and combinations that landed in a blur of speed, all on his way to a decision as wide as 118-110 on my card and that of one of the judges.

But The Greatest Ever.

On the eve of his so-called Fight of the Century with Manny Pacquiao in May I made a list of the eight finest boxers I had witnessed live.

I left the last two places in the customary top ten vacant in case one or both might qualify via that bout.

So deeply anti-climactic was that event that neither have made the list. 

Nor does humiliating Mr Berto clinch the deal for Mr Money. So I have filled the bottom two spots without them.

Nor does that take account of all the great fighters in ring history before my time, the likes of Joe Louis, Henry Armstrong, Harry Greb, Willie Pep. 

Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Stanley Ketchel and Marciano himself.

Mayweather’s legacy is complicated by facing so many opponents of his own choosing. 

Also, while the elusive rolled-shoulder style does indeed enable him to claim that he is quitting with all his faculties still intact, it has denied him the thrilling battles which have established the reputations of so many fighters.

Without question, he will be elected to the boxing Hall of Fame. There is also a valid case for including him somewhere in the best 25 fighters of all time.

But if he wants to climb into my Top Ten, and many others like it, then I’m afraid he will have to come back and fight two or three of the most dangerous opponents still out there. Like Gennady Golovkin and Amir Khan.

Although I have to admit that if he does stay retired, I will miss him.