Tales of Two Retired and Undefeated World Boxing Champions

Two relatively young world boxing champions who made a fortune in their professional boxing career have chosen to retire in their prime years. They were undefeated at the time of their retirement. They are Floyd Mayweather Jr. of the United States and Joe Calzaghe of the United Kingdom.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

Floyd, Jr. is an undefeated American professional boxer who has fought 39 times professionally and never tasted a single defeat. Floyd, Jr.who is rated at welterweight was only 30 years old when he retired from boxing.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on February 24, 1977. He is the son of Floyd Mayweather, Sr., also a professional boxer during his time. Floyd, Jr. came from a family of boxers. His uncles, Jeff and Roger were also professional boxers and held various championship belts during their time.

During his amateur years, Mayweather, Jr. fought 84 times and losing only six. He is a three-time winner of National Golden Gloves Championship. During his professional career, he fought in different categories including the Super Featherweight, Lightweight, Junior Welterweight, Welterweight and Junior Middleweight.

It was in the Junior Middleweight category that Mayweather Jr.made a fortune. He was given the opportunity to fight the then WBC Junior Middleweight titleholder, Oscar de la Hoya in May 2007. He won in that fight which required him to move up in weight to 147 pounds.

The Mayweather-de la Hoya fight broke the PPV record with 2.4 million takes, shattering the record of 1.95 million for the Tyson-Holyfield ll. Mayweather made US25 million for the fight, the biggest in his professional career.

In December 2007, Mayweather fought Ricky Hatton and won by KO. After his bout with Hatton he announced his retirement from boxing. He remained undefeated.

Joe Calzaghe

Joseph William Calzaghe (Joe Calzaghe) is a British (Welsh) professional boxer. He was born in Hammersmith, London on March 23, 1972. He was two years old when his family moved to Wales where he spent his childhood.

Calzaghe, who is a southpaw, began boxing at the age of nine. He fought 120 amateur fights and won four schoolboy ABA titles and three Senior ABA titles.

Joe Calzaghe is rated at Light Heavyweight. He fought 46 times and won all. He also fought in the middleweight category and super middleweight where he fought American Jeff Lacy and won on points.

Calzaghe later moved to Light heavyweight and fought Bernard Hopkins at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas Nevada for the Ring Magazine Light heavyweight championship where he won a controversial split decision in his first ever fight in the United States.

On November 8, 2008, he fought Roy Jones, Jr. at the Madison Square Garden. Calzaghe won on points after he inflicted a cut on Jones eye that nearly forced a stoppage of the fight.

On February 5, 2009, Joe Calzaghe announced his retirement from professional boxing with a perfect record of 46 wins with no defeats.

Both boxers have indicated or hinted on possible come back fight. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. has openly admitted that he is open to a possible match with Manny Pacquiao. In any case, the fight purse will be the main consideration that will make these retirees fight one more time.

In the meantime, these undefeated retired boxers are enjoying their temporary retirement with their heads up high, being undefeated in their entire professional careers.