Floyd Mayweather never lost but Oscar De La Hoya, Marcos Maidana and and Luis Castillo made him sweat – even Donald Trump tweeted he was lucky
Floyd Mayweather retired with a perfect professional boxing record of 50-0.
The iconic five-weight world champion proved beyond all doubt that he was the greatest fighter of his era by conquering just about every other relevant belt holder at the time.
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Manny Pacquiao was outboxed at a canter, Juan Manuel Marquez endured the same fate, and even a young Canelo Alvarez could not come close to victory.
Mayweather's last serious fight came in 2015, but there was one money spinning mega event after that.
MMA star Conor McGregor was of course unable to defeat Floyd, but there are three fighters who did push him over 12 rounds and almost ended his unbeaten streak.
Ultimately they were all unsuccessful in their quest to defeat the pound-for-pound star, but these were by far the toughest tests of his iconic career...
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Mike Tyson pretended to throw a punch at Floyd Mayweather, but the unbeaten 50-0 legend didn’t even flinch
Jose Luis Castillo I and a slugfest
When they first met on April 20, 2002, Castillo gave Mayweather all he could handle.
All three judges scored the first four rounds for the American, but then the Mexican dragged him into an unexpected slugfest and appeared to turn the fight in his favour.
A young Floyd struggled to deal with Castillo's intelligent pressure as he cut off the ring effectively and unleashed body shots.
Castillo finished the fight strongly and many felt he'd done enough to retain his WBC lightweight world title, however the judges saw it differently.
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Despite HBO's unofficial judge Harold Lederman scoring the contest 115-111 in favour of Castillo, the official verdict was a unanimous win for Mayweather with scores of 116-111, 115-111, 115-111.
The verdict was booed by the crowd when it was officially announced and this led to a rematch.
Floyd had complained of a shoulder injury in the first bout, so had surgery before they met again.
In his very next fight eight months later, Mayweather rectified the perceived controversy with an intelligent, cautious boxing display.
There was no doubt about the rematch, which he won 116-113, 115-113, 115-113.
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Oscar De La Hoya takes him all the way
On May 5, 2007, Mayweather won the fight that earned his status as the biggest star in boxing.
De La Hoya did not relinquish this title easily though.
Mayweather was making his debut at super-welterweight (154lbs) - his career-high division - and Oscar used his size advantage effectively.
Early on, De La Hoya pressed Mayweather when he trapped him up against the ropes and attempted to pound him to the body. He had some success, though Mayweather proved elusive at times.
Floyd battled back in the middle rounds as the champion began to tire.
After riding out the rough early stages, Mayweather snatched the fight on the judges' scorecards, although only just.
The bout was a split decision with two officials scoring it 116-112 and 115-113 to Floyd, while the other had it 115-113 in favour of De La Hoya.
This was the only fight in Mayweather's entire career in which any judge scored against him.
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Marcos Maidana I and the brawl
As he entered the final stage of his career, Mayweather was dragged into one last toe-to-toe battle.
On May 3, 2014, he took on rugged Argentinian Maidana who had recently brutalised Floyd's protege Adrien Broner, handing him his first loss.
Maidana was a big underdog having previously been beaten by Amir Khan, but acted as the aggressor from the start.
He took the fight to Mayweather in an unorthodox, brawling fashion and forced him up against the ropes.
Mayweather had to box wisely so he could land his counter shots and was able to do enough to win once again.
The bout was a majority decision with two officials scoring it 117-111 and 116-112 to Mayweather, while the other had it a draw 114-114.
Future USA president Donald Trump was ringside and tweeted that he felt the decision was a disgrace and the fight was fixed.
However, he is not known to be the most reliable with accusations of 'rigging'.
CompuBox reported that Mayweather was hit more times than in any of his previous 38 fights they had counted.
They said Maidana landed 221 of his 858 punches (26 per cent), while the American landed 230 of his 426 (54 per cent).
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Like with Castillo 12 years earlier, Mayweather accepted an immediate rematch and won the second fight in convincing fashion to silence the doubters.
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