It was a big weekend for the International Boxing Hall of Fame, which formally inducted three classes of fighters (2020, 2021, and 2022) during the celebration event. And perhaps none of those fighters were bigger than Floyd Mayweather, who gave his Hall of Fame induction speech which can be viewed in full above thanks to Fight Hub TV.
Mayweather made it a point to highlight a number of influential people in his career, but he also didn’t forget to brag about his career achievements, which is certainly well deserved for the generational talent that he was. Watch Floyd’s full induction speech here or feel free to read some excerpts below.
“I’ve done a lot in my career, but this is by far the best,” Mayweather said. “I must always give thanks to the man above, always first, ‘cause without God none of this would be possible. My dad is a genius. My dad is a great man, he’s a man with integrity, he’s a stand up guy, and I will always put him first.
“And to the queen, my mother, a great woman, ambitious, she has the will to win in life. So when you take my dad, who’s the best trainer ever, and you take my mother, another queen — you take that king and that queen and you put them together, this is what you get. We all know I look good, I fight good, I’m undefeated, I dominated the sport for 20 years straight. But another great thing about my career is the smart investments that I made. This sport was able to put me in a position to be able to make over a billion and then invest my money and double, and triple it.
“And someone that I never talk about, my oldest sister. Always had my back, always protected me, and always wanted the best for me, and always ran my companies with an iron fist and never got in front of a camera and never got on social media. I want to tell her that I love her, keep up the great work, and I will always have your back.
“And to one of the best businessmen in the world, my business partner — some call him my business partner, some call him my other dad, some call him my manager, call him whatever you want you want to call him, but we’re gonna call him great, too: Al Haymon. The connection that me and Al have is unbelievable. To be able to work with over 400 fighters and put these fighters in position to be able to take care of their families is remarkable, and that’s what it’s all about.
“Al, I want to personally thank you for us coming together and changing the sport of boxing. I got in the sport, I put the heavyweights out of business — that’s what I did. I brought the real money to the small guys, Floyd Mayweather did that.
“Leonard Ellerbe, my ride or die. 26 years we stuck together and to the casket drop we gonna continue to stick together and ride with one another because I’m loyal. And life is all about loyalty…I’m with you through the good times, the bad times, and the ugly times, that’s who I am.
“Yesterday we didn’t talk about the other legendary champion that’s no longer with us, Roger Mayweather. Roger, I know you looking down on us, and I know you’re proud of me. Great champion, helluva trainer, and a great person. And ya’ll know Roger Mayweather quote, ‘You don’t know shit about boxing!’.
“Another legendary person involved in boxing that we don’t talk about, but may he rest in peace, Rafael Garcia. He’s a helluva guy, a grandfather that I never had in the sport of boxing.
“To my children, you guys know, I’m a stand up father, and I will always want the best for my kids. I’m not the parent that’s gonna tell my child they’re right when they’re wrong. When you right, you right, and when you wrong, you wrong. I put everything on the line to give my children a life that I didn’t have when I was coming up.
“And to my team, The Money Team…I brought 70 members with me. We’re gonna continue to give back to the sport of boxing. I’m going to continue to give back to the sport of boxing, my time, and I will also give back financially, ‘cause I got it.
“So now we’re gonna talk about why I’m TBE, and I’m gonna tell ya’ll. So we got the 10 biggest PPVs of all time, and I got six. They had me in a contract that I didn’t want to be in, so I said, ‘You know what, I’ll buy myself out of this contract for $750,000,’ and when I left them guys, I made $750 million in just three fights. I never let the sport of boxing fuck over me, and we all know I’m the highest grossing fighter ever. Yeah, I’ma pop my shit, I deserve to.
“They say, ‘Well, Floyd, this fighter was 79-0, and this fighter has 200 straight wins’ — he ain’t done what I did, I still beat more world champions than any fighter in history. And guess what, I’m a clean fighter. I’m the pioneer for random blood and urine testing.
“I’m the best. I will always be the best. There’s no fighter in the past that’s better than me, there’s no fighter that in the future that’s going to be better than me, and there’s no fighter better than me right now.
“I want to tell all the fighters, thank you. There wouldn’t be no me without you guys. Shane, I’m proud of you. Bernard, I’m proud of you. Marquez, I’m proud of you. Ward, I’m proud of you. Ann Wolfe, I’m proud of you. Laila Ali, I’m proud of you. Lou DiBella, I’m proud of you. Miguel Cotto, I’m proud of you. James Toney, I’m proud of you. Roy Jones, I’m proud of you. Without you guys, wouldn’t be no me. Everybody that’s on this stage deserves to go into the boxing Hall of Fame. “