Monday 6 March 2017 12:49, UK
Floyd Mayweather insists it makes "business sense" for Conor McGregor to meet him in a proposed super fight and has urged the UFC star to make a decision.
The former five-weight world champion told Sky Sports in January that he was "most likely" to return to the ring for a crossover fight with UFC lightweight champion McGregor.
Mayweather retired from boxing in September 2015 after equalling Rocky Marciano's unbeaten record of 49-0 and has since being involved in an ongoing war of words with McGregor on social media.
The 40-year-old, who promotes himself, suggested McGregor (21-3) was not a "shot caller" due to his contract with the UFC and advised the Irishman to fight him before possibly seeing his value diminish by suffering another defeat as a mixed-martial-artist.
"The difference between me and him is this: He has to fight. If I was him and I was smart, before I lose again in the UFC I'd let Floyd Mayweather kick my a** for a lot of money. It makes business sense," Mayweather told The Daily Telegraph.
"There's a difference between being an employee and an employer.
"If someone says 'I want to fight Floyd Mayweather', I can simply say 'yes, let's make it happen'. But when you've got a guy like Conor McGregor he has to talk to Dana White (the UFC president). Dana has to talk to Dana's bosses.
"Conor's not a shot caller. When they said 'Why is Floyd Mayweather not fighting Manny Pacquiao?', it was because Manny Pacquiao had a boss. I don't have a boss. We could have easily made the fight happen years ago. Everything happens for a reason.
"The first time I was going to fight Manny Pacquiao I was guaranteed $50 million but I had patience. And when I had patience that fight became a $300m fight."
Mayweather called time on his unblemished boxing career after defeating Andre Berto in Las Vegas, while McGregor became the first UFC fighter to hold two belts simultaneously after knocking out Eddie Alvarez last November.
"This guy said I'm a p***y, I'm scared, I'm a chicken," Mayweather said. "All 49 said the same thing and all the results were the same. So with that being said, if Conor McGregor really wants to fight me, we can make it happen. But is he blowing smoke up everybody's a**? We need to know.
"When I was a young fighter I could brag and boast and say I'm going to take his a** and do this and that. I'm Floyd Mayweather. But once I reached the top I didn't have anything to say."
He added: "If you haven't made $10m you can't ask for $10m. If you haven't made 20, you can't ask for 20.
"What you have to do is go to the Forbes and see what he's worth. I'm going to give you what you're worth. If he's worth five, we'll give him 10.
"If he's worth 10, we'll give him 20. We're talking about just one fight. We're going to choose one fight. In one fight I made more than Conor McGregor has made in his whole career."
