I'm a huge fan of Mayweather, and I was only too well aware that he has often felt under-appreciated by the boxing public at large and he mentioned retirement more and more over the last couple of years.

But you see no boxer retires at the top of their game. Nobody.  It just doesn’t happen in this sport.

Champions do retire, of course, but this is always when they have already begun to show the wear and tear of the ring or when father time has stolen the march on them.

Floyd is arguably still as good as ever and can still make some very big money in boxing.

Is this the first time since Sugar Ray Robinson or Ray Leonard that the man universally recognized as the "best fighter in the world" has announced his retirement?

My initial reaction was to think that his retirement was just a ploy to make the then upcoming rematch with Oscar De La Hoya a bigger event.  I mean it certainly needed a selling point because absolutely nobody wanted to see the fight except for Mayweather and De La Hoya themselves. And a "Mayweather Returns" tag would always have been good at the box office.  After all, the "returning warrior" is an age old sell in the fight-game.

But whatever doubts we have, when you consider that the man went to the trouble of formally announcing his retirement, his decision must be respected.

Floyd Mayweather is no longer an active fighter. So be it.

But where were the media accolades for Floyd at the end of his great career?  Where are the "thanks for the memories" letters from the fans? Does he not deserve them?

Sometimes it feels like I'm the only one that will miss him.

As I said, I'm a big fan of Floyd.

I firmly believe that he’s the best boxer the world has seen since the days of Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran.  And what’s more I don't see one fighter out there that I would have picked to beat him.  I don't believe for a second that the flotsam and jetsam that he leaves behind are anywhere close to the same class!

Manny Pacquiao, the next best fighter "pound for pound" is without doubt a special little warrior.  But Manny’s physical gifts of power and speed paper over a lot of cracks in his technique.  He’s a great fighter, no doubt about it, but far from the complete package.

Around Floyd’s own size there’s the likes of Miguel Cotto, who I honestly feel would never have gotten within spitting distance of Floyd.

I'm a big fan of Antonio Margarito, but Floyd would have had little trouble boxing Big Tony’s ears off either!

And as for Paul Williams, well let me put it this way: if Carlos Quintana can out-box Tall Paul you can rest assured a boxer like Floyd Mayweather would have given him absolute fits!

But these are fights I would still have loved to see. I loved watching Mayweather box. The man was streets ahead of the rest.

But if Floyd never boxes again, I wish him all the best. Too many of our great champions choose to prolong their careers long after their abilities have left them.

We have enough wounded heroes in this game. If Floyd gets out with all his money and all his marbles it makes him an even bigger credit to the sport.

I know Floyd has his detractors. He has more than his fair share of them. But I suppose that’s what happens when practically every qualified person acknowledges that you’re the very best in the world at what you do.  People, naturally, have their own tastes.

"Pure" boxing, at its technical best, often gets too technical to make it genuine entertainment. But that doesn't make it any less artistic, or any less great.

But alas, I feel in this day and age a true defensive genius was never going to be a hit with the fans.   These days, young fans especially want to see blood and guts when they watch a fight. They want a quick fix of violence. Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson, a former backyard boxing tough guy, made notorious by home videos posted on youtube.com seems to be a bigger star to young fight-fans today than Floyd Mayweather is!

The old time defensive masters like Nat Langham and Jem Mace strove to pull the sport out of the illegal rough and tumble, elbows, throws and choke-holds age and into the twentieth century.  It took about a generation.

How could a genuine artist of the ring expect to enjoy the plaudits that his prowess deserves in these un-enlightened times?

I dont know ,but i cant help but remember the famous words of Joni Mitchell....

           "Don’t it always seem to go

             That you don’t know what you’ve got

              Till its gone"

by Barry Kilemade  (barrykil1980)