Mayweather to come out of retirement in July

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Floyd Mayweather Jr will come out of retirement in July and fight Mexico's five times world champion Juan Manuel Marquez, the American said on Saturday.

"I'm ready to return to boxing and give people another dose of the Mayweather experience," said the 32-year-old, who will take on Marquez in a non-title welterweight fight on July 18.

"When it comes to fight time, I'll be ready physically and mentally. I just want to be the best that I can be," he told a packed news conference at the MGM Grand Hotel.

Mayweather, the undefeated five-division world champion, has not fought since his 10th round stoppage of Britain's Ricky Hatton in a WBC welterweight title bout in December 2007.

Widely regarded as the world's best pound-for-pound fighter, Mayweather announced his retirement from boxing for a second time in 13 months last June.

The American, with an unblemished career record of 39-0 with 25 knockouts, said he would not fight again because he had lost his desire for the sport but his passion has returned.

"I left on top and I came back on top," said Mayweather. "I'm here to fight and reclaim what is mine.

"When I made my decision to retire last year, I felt like it was time for me to go as I had been boxing my whole life and felt like I had done all that I could do.