By Ivan G. Goldman
Floyd Mayweather’s incessant dawdling, hemming, hawing, hesitating, rumor-planting, and contradictory statement-making have cost Showtime its dazzling co-event on the big May 4 pay-per-view card out of Las Vegas.
Canelo Alvarez, a big star in his own right, refused to remain on the undercard of Mayweather-Robert Guerrero in Las Vegas unless he could get some kind of commitment from Mayweather, 36, to face him in the fall. When Mayweather kept stalling, Canelo demanded to headline his own card — a different card — when he faces WBA champ Austin Trout for a junior middleweight title unification.
Canelo’s promoter Golden Boy, fearful of riling its red-haired golden goose, acquiesced. Present plans call for the Canelo-Trout battle of undefeateds to be staged April 20 in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Because Mayweather gets a nice big slice of pay-per-view profits, his refusal to commit may have cost him millions.
Mayweather, 43-0 (26 KOs), holds both the WBA light middleweight and WBC welterweight titles. The WBC belt will be on the line against Guerrero, 31-1-1 (18 KOs), who holds the WBC “interim” title. Translated, that means “the Ghost” paid a sanctioning fee to the WBC in his last outing, against Andre Berto last November, even though the WBC didn’t have a real title it could offer him because Mayweather had it. Naturally the WBC also picked up some dollars from Berto in his losing cause to win the non-title.
Floyd’s congenital hesitation offers us some kind of clues as to how often and who he intends to fight in the future now that he’s bailed from HBO. He may have signed a six-fight contract with Showtime over a 30-month term, but it’s pretty clear that’s not what he intends to do. Floyd competes once a year, and he’s exceedingly choosy about who he fights. WBC champ Canelo, 22, has apparently now joined Manny Pacquiao on the list of guys Floyd doesn’t want to fight.
That leaves Golden Boy and Showtime in the lurch for its big, big event on Cinco de Mayo weekend. For a while at least it looked like fans might get a good double-header. Undercards have shrunk in quality over the years even as pay-per-view fees have increased enormously. It remains to be seen whether the May 4 card will follow that downhill trajectory of higher costs for less product.
Hard-hitting Alvarez, 41-0-1, (30 KOs), will making his sixth title defense against Trout, 26-0 (14 KOs), and it should be a doozy. Southpaw Trout has a decision win over Rigoberto Alvarez — Canelo’s brother — on his record. The Texas showdown will be a big test for both fighters, with much to gain or lose. Trout, 27, showed what he was made of when he scored a lopsided victory over tough Miguel Cotto last December in Cotto’s own house — Madison Square Garden.
Floyd’s flighty attitude toward commitment presents problems for Showtime and Golden Boy, who have to explain it away even as they conduct a full-out marketing campaign. They will be out to tell everybody what a fearless fighter he is. Both Showtime and its sister network CBS will carry much of this marketing load.
Reading Goldman’s critically acclaimed novel Isaac: A Modern Fable {Permanent Press, 2012) is a fine experience the author wishes for each and every one of you. So buy it. Information HERE