Abel Sanchez, the trainer of boxing’s middleweight superstar Gennady Golovkin, does not believe Floyd Mayweather Jr. did anything for his legacy when he beat Conor McGregor
Mayweather Jr., who was tied with boxing legend Rocky Marciano at 49 wins with 0 losses before his fight with McGregor, was criticized by many in the boxing community for the choice of opponent for his 50th bout.
Many of those who opposed “Money” breaking the long-held boxing record did so on the basis that he was going against a fighter they believed was not an authentic boxer in McGregor. Sanchez, who had been critical of the fight from the offset, stands by these feelings:
“As important as it is for him to be ‘TBE’ and as important as it is for him to be recognized as one of the best, I’m surprised that he made this fight. I understand the financial part of it for him, but it does nothing for his legacy and I think for us to consider that being one of the 50 fights would be bad for his legacy and to his image,” Sanchez said while speaking to On The Ropes Boxing Radio.
“If he retires and does nothing after that, I don’t think that it will be something that will be considered as breaking the record of Marciano. It’s just like when these baseball players were caught using performance-enhancing drugs, how can you put those records on file and consider them with the records of the guys that didn’t? I think of this talk about an asterisk besides their name for this being done while using the performance enhancing drug.
“For Mayweather fighting an amateur, it shouldn’t be considered as his 50th win. What he does after this fight will determine how he’s viewed at the end of his career.”
