Floyd Mayweather Jr., the pound-for-pound king of boxing, isn't going to claim that title in the ballroom dance arena.
Mayweather and his partner, professional dancer Karina Smirnoff, were eliminated Tuesday night from ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" reality series competition.
On Monday night, they received a 23 out of 30 for their paso doble. It was Mayweather's best score during his run on the show and judges Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba were all complimentary of him after the dance.
However, on Tuesday's results show, in which one of the nine remaining stars would be sent home, Mayweather wound up in the bottom two with former Spice Girl Melanie Brown and her partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy. At the end of the show, host Tom Bergeron announced that Mayweather and Smirnoff had been eliminated based on having the lowest combined totals of the judges' scores and viewer votes.
Mayweather took the news in stride.
"It was marvelous just being here, just to get to this plateau," Mayweather told Bergeron when asked how he felt about his experience on the series. "For all the fans that supported me, to everybody behind the scenes, I really appreciate it. We had a great time."
Bergeron then suggested that being eliminated might be a blessing in disguise for the welterweight world champion.
"Now you get to train full-time for Dec. 8," Bergeron said, alluding to Mayweather's highly anticipated HBO PPV fight with junior welterweight champion Ricky Hatton.
Mayweather had been juggling the rigors of training camp with his responsibilities to the show. During his time on the show, Mayweather combined daily dance practice with boxing training while commuting between his home in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, where the show is shot.
After Monday night's performance, Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather's best friend and adviser, told ESPN.com that Mayweather sparred eight rounds, did a full boxing workout and then ran eight miles.
After Tuesday's elimination, Mayweather was whisked away to tape the evening's episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live." And after that? Ellerbe said Mayweather planned to do more road work before they took the short flight back to Las Vegas.
"He's been doing the impossible," Ellerbe said. "That's what separates him from any other athlete. He is grateful for the opportunity to be on the show. He had a lot of fun."
Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.