Undefeated boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. visited the defending champion Miami Heat as they embark upon a new season and try to join history as the fourth team to three-peat. As someone who’s both popular but also someone people want to see finally lose, Mayweather was the perfect person to give the Heat a pep talk. Read more after the jump.
“With him being 17 years-and-0 — we’re trying to defend two titles — he’s been defending for a long time,” Lebron James said. “He definitely knows where we’re coming from. It’s definitely exciting to have someone, one of the greatest of all time, to be in your presence. It’s something you can talk about years from now when you look back on the history of sports. That guy was at our practice.”
Heat players said Mayweather, who is 45-0 and has won titles in five different weight divisions, talked to the team about remaining on top in the face of what is expected to be stiffer competition from much-improved contenders across the league.
“From one champion to another, he just talked about being proud of us and how we handled ourselves,” Dwyane Wade said. “He knows, as a champion, how hard it is to go out there and compete when people try to take you down, take what you work for. He kept telling us how proud he is of us. If you got up today and you were a little tired, you walk in and see the champ, you work a little harder.”
