Abel Mendoza is just eight wins away from tying Floyd Mayweather’s unblemished 50-0 record.
Mendoza has flown under the radar during his nine-year stretch in the paid ranks but has compiled an impressive 42-0 record.
The undefeated lightweight has mostly beaten journeymen on club shows, although there are a few prospects mixed amongst his résumé.
In his last outing in December, he made short work of Yonnaiquer Rondon (22-4-1) and prior to that, he outclassed German Ivan Meraz (65-72-3) in June.
Terence Crawford is the current world champion with the longest unbeaten streak at 41-0 but as he nears his 38th birthday it seems highly unlikely he will make it to 50 fights.
Mendoza, meanwhile, has time on his hands at 29 years old though he will have to step up his level of opposition if he wants to get anywhere near Mayweather and Crawford’s achievements.
At 42-0, Mayweather had already won world titles in five different weight classes while Mendoza isn’t even ranked by any of the four major sanctioning bodies at 135lbs.
He could easily surpass Mayweather’s legendary 50-0 record without facing a world-level foe but he wouldn’t gain much respect from the boxing fraternity.
“My Goal was never to beat Floyd’s record. It is to become a world champion,” Mendoza told World Boxing News.
“If I have got to be 100-0 to do that, then so be it.”
Mendoza’s BoxRec made the rounds on social media over the weekend and caught the attention of Mayweather’s protege Curmel Moton, who moved to 7-0 on Saturday night with a destructive third-round stoppage of Cuba’s Frank Zaldivar.
Moton commented three trash can emojis on a screenshot of Mendoza’s record.
The response prompted fans to call for a fight between the pair.
To which, Moton remarked: “I’d do him so bad!”
Moton isn’t the first fighter to take a swipe at Mendoza’s record.
Fellow unbeaten lightweight J’hon Ingram (6-0) also recently labelled Mendoza a ‘bum’ on social media.
Responding to the slack he has caught from other boxers, Mendoza added: “People criticize for anything, but when I prove them wrong, they’ll find something else to criticize me for.”
“I’ve been called out so many times by so many different fighters, but I need to fight someone who is a top-rated contender, not someone who has never even fought eight rounds
