Floyd Mayweather is known to many around the world as the greatest boxer there ever was. It is a fair title as he holds a record of 50 career wins and 0 losses. When he won his 50th fight it overtook the record to that point of Rocky Marciano, who had won 49-0, retiring in 1955. Floyd is known for being the best defensive boxer the world has ever seen and based on modern-day statistical computing has proven to be the most accurate boxer of modern times. Yet his record of being undefeated did not take long to be surpassed and now there are many that wonder is there a better boxer out there that just spends a little less time in the spotlight?
It took 62 years for a boxer to overcome the record of Rocky Marciano. Many thought his record of 49 wins and 0 defeats would never be bested. Yet Mayweather succeeded in overtaking Marciano in 2017 when he fought Conor McGregor. The fight marked the end of a fantastic career. At that time it was believed by many that it would take another 62 years before anyone came close to surpassing the Mayweather record. Yet it took less than two.
Wanheng Menayothin is a Thai boxer who has held the world title in the WBC strawweight since 2014. On May 2nd, 2018, Wanheng matched Mayweather’s win record with no defeats. In August 2018, Wanheng defeated Pedro Taduran to take the title. He has since won three more fights and now has a record of 54 wins and zero losses, 18 of those wins were knockouts. It was rumored that Wanheng had retired after his 54th win and that he would therefore remain undefeated forever but he has since announced that he will fight again.
This is good news for Mayweather as although he no longer holds the records for the most wins without any losses if Menayothin loses in any of his remaining fights it would give Mayweather back one record. It is also good news for fighting fans around the world. The strawweight division is one of the least-watched boxing weight classes. The reason is simply that the punches aren’t as heavy. While in heavyweight a single punch could floor an opponent, in strawweight it is far more likely that the fight will see the finish and that there will be fewer knockouts. This means fewer people want to watch these fights and the name Menayothin doesn0t ring out so loud. Of course, Mayweather also fights at a lightweight class but his marketability and fan appeal have overcome this issue.
If Menayothin continues to fight it offers a rare opportunity to fight fans to see one of the greats continue to perform. As with other sports, the legends only appear ever so often and when one is in our midst we often take it for granted. As Menayothin has come out of retirement we should all do our best to watch his next fight. After all, who knows how long it will take for a fighter to beat his record. Two years or sixty-two?
Mayweather has also sent out rumors on numerous occasions that he too will come out of retirement but this is unlikely. At present, there is no fight that poses a low risk and high reward that he would need to entice him out of retirement. Even his 50th win which got him the record was against an MMA fighter, not a boxer so the odds were heavily stacked in Mayweather’s favor. Unless he comes out of retirement for another showpiece like this, it is unlikely we will see him fight again.