19 May 2009

Floyd Mayweather Jr to come out of retirement for third time

5:15 pm on 19 May 2009

Already accepted as one of the greatest boxers of any era, American Floyd Mayweather Jr has decided to come out of retirement for a third time.

The undefeated five-division world champion has not fought for 17 months but will take on Mexico's five-time world champion Juan Manuel Marquez in a non-title welterweight bout in Las Vegas in mid July.

Mayweather, who has an unblemished career record of 39-0 with 25 knockouts, says he never expected to miss boxing as much as he did after announcing his retirement last June.

Mayweather has not fought since his 10th round stoppage of Britain's Ricky Hatton in a WBC welterweight title bout in December 2007 but believes he is already in good shape.