Floyd Mayweather believes he's a better fighter than Muhammad Ali, the American boxer said earlier this week.

Mayweather said he respects Ali's great career and the things he did outside the ring. But he said he believes he has done as much in boxing as the legendary former heavyweight champion ever did, without the losses that Ali suffered in his career.

"He called himself The Greatest and I call myself TBE (The Best Ever)," Mayweather said Wednesday. "I'm pretty sure I'll get criticized for what I said, but I could care less. I could care less about the backlash."

Mayweather had said that he was better than both Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson, pointing to his 47-0 record as proof. He also said he would never have lost to a fighter like Leon Spinks, who beat an aging Ali in 1978 after having just seven pro fights.

"I just look at Ali's career when he fought Leon Spinks and lost to a fighter with seven fights," Mayweather said. "There were some other fights he lost and he's still known as The Greatest because that's what he put out there. It is what it is."

A little more than a week before his megafight worth 100 million dollars with Manny Pacquiao on May 2, Mayweather seemed relaxed and inclined to hype up his life by posting a picture full of half-naked dancers and dollars in his house on Instagram.

Most boxing historians would disagree with Mayweather's own view of his place in boxing's historical hierarchy. That includes the current heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko, who told a group of reporters in New York on Tuesday that maybe Mayweather shouldn't be so boastful.