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Boxing: Mayweather "better with age"
May 04, 2012
Floyd Mayweather has fired an ominous warning to weekend opponent Miguel Cotto by claiming: "I'm getting better with age."
Mayweather, 35, is looking to defend a perfect professional record of 42-0 in Las Vegas on Saturday evening before before starting a 90-day jail term on June 1 for domestic abuse.
And he claims his preparation could not have been better as he takes on a very dangerous opponent in Cotto (39-2 30KOs) who is four years younger.
"I think I'm getting better with age - I think I'm still sharp, I'm still hungry," said Mayweather, who stopped England's Ricky Hatton back in 2007.
"I'm boxing a lot with some strong young guys, but I'm not really taking no punishment. I think a great thing about my career is that as far as me taking a long vacation helped as far as letting my body heal totally.
"So May 5 I think is a great thing. I think I'm going to be a lot sharper this fight than I was for the Ortíz fight [KO 4th round, Sep 2011].
"I know there's no fighter in the history of the sport that's dedicated like I'm dedicated. There's no fighter that's going to work as hard as Floyd Mayweather, because again I have the will to win."
As always, Mayweather - a seven-time world champion and current holder of the WBC welterweight strap - is positive his arm will be raised in Las Vegas but he was unwilling to make a prediction.
I can't really say how this fight is going to play out," he said.
"I always like a difficult and a tough test, and it's like a tough math problem; if I sit back for a while I could eventually solve the problem with ease."
Meanwhile, Cotto, the WBA light-middleweight champion, believes fighting at 154 pounds will be a major advantage for him.
"No one should forget that I am very comfortable at 154 pounds, and that will be a huge asset going into this match. Also, there's no doubt I have the power to win this fight. If anything, my power has strengthened. That will make the difference.
""The last few years of life have been great for me as a boxer. I have learned quite a bit about myself, and what it takes to win. My fight with Floyd Mayweather will be great and exciting and I know fans desperately want to see it happen."
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