Mayweather confirms comeback

Floyd Mayweather Jr has confirmed he is coming out of a 17-month retirement to fight Mexico's WBA lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez.

The unbeaten former pound for pound champion (39-0, 25 KOs) will fight Marquez (50-4-1, 37 KOs) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on July 18 with the match made at a catchweight 144 pounds.

"I'm not wasting any time with a tune-up fight," Mayweather Jr said. "I'm going straight to the top. Marquez called me out immediately after his victory over Juan Diaz in February and now he gets his wish."

He added: "What he is going to find out is that you should be very careful what you wish for.

"He's a good small man but I'm a great big man.

"A small man will never defeat me, everybody knows that."

Six-time, five-weight world champion Mayweather, 32, will be fighting for the first time since defeating Britain's Ricky Hatton in December 2007 for the WBC welterweight title.