LOS ANGELES — Floyd Mayweather is coming out of retirement and will return to professional boxing after his exhibition fight with Mike Tyson this spring, the 48-year-old announced yesterday. 

Former multi-weight world champion Mayweather retired from boxing in 2017, unbeaten in 50 bouts, though he has appeared in several exhibition fights since.

“I still have what it takes to set more records in the sport of boxing,” Mayweather, said in a statement to AFP.

“From my upcoming Mike Tyson event to my next professional fight afterwards—no one will generate a bigger gate, have a larger global broadcast audience and generate more money with each event—then (sic) my events.”

A first professional fight is tentatively scheduled for this summer, against an opponent to be announced.

Details will be revealed “in the coming weeks,” said the statement.

Nicknamed “Money”, Mayweather was once the world’s highest-paid athlete, with earnings of US$300 million in 2015, according to Forbes.

At his peak he was widely considered boxing’s pound-for-pound king, dominating the welterweight division for more than a decade.

Despite his success, Mayweather has long been a controversial figure.

He was often criticized for an overly defensive style, and accused by some of dodging the most dangerous opponents simply to embellish his record.