FIGHTHYPE FLASHBACK: MAYWEATHER VS. GATTI BUILDUP

It's been one week since the announcement and already the retirement of Floyd Mayweather Jr. has had an impact on the sport of boxing. Oscar De La Hoya will now fight just one more time before hanging up the gloves for good while undefeated Andre Berto now finds himself in a position to become a world champion on June 21st. Take a look back at some classic footage of Floyd Mayweather Jr., before the birth of the "Money May" persona, as he began to take his career to the next level before ultimately walking away at the peak of his prime.

watch video

http://www.fighthype.com/videopopup.php?aid=2853



Classic Floyd Mayweather...I should have put some money down on this fight.

Shout out to Monster, OnFire and a few others who gave us permission to use their footage.

This is what leads me to believe Mayweather is not retiring. The man worked hard from 2005 to become mainstream. He may not be a household name but he is better known to the non boxing fans than other boxers. And now he is retiring?

Either he just wants to take a break or he wanted to become famous to leave boxing and become an "entertainer". Sadly for Mayweather, boxing is all he's good at.

I think that's exactly what it is...he's just taking a break. It might be a two year break, but before long, he'll be back. His ego will force him back.

yeah i dont believe hes retiring my self i think he is taking a break 2 let cotto build a bigger name for his self then he'll be back next year 2 ad cotto 2 his list of victims

CLASSIC MAYWEATHER!

"Imma take his belt, Im not gonna even defend it, Imma give it right back!"

True Greatness...

That was good shit talking because it was actually personal. I read that Gatti was throwing the domestic dispute incident in his face and he wanted to punish him for it. Now it's all about the money and the bigger than life persona. A lot of the shit he was doing to De La Hoya was hilarious, especially the golden chicken with the medal. We're (boxing fans) are going to miss this fool in a couple of months, personality wise. David Haye is going to have to make some noise, before we hate him.

Yeah, actually, Gatti was throwing some pretty good smack out there too...unfortunately, he couldn't really back it up. I've got a highlight video of Gatti leading up to that fight too...I'll see if I can dig that up and put it up too.

I truly believe Teddy Atlas' analogy Floyd Sr was put here to protect him as his father and Floyd wanted no part of going against the man who taught him everything he knows and gave birth to him his heart wouldn't be in it, Seriously who fights there dad, Ya'll right he's probably just taking a break

I forgot how badly Mayweather dissed Gatti before the fight.

In the final press conference, Mayweather and Vivian Harris started talking trash to each other... Harris called Floyd "Pretty Girl"and a "Faggot". Harris would then get knocked out by Carlos "The Troof" Maussa on the undercard of Mayweather-Gatti and his beef with Floyd just faded away after that.