By Kirk Jackson
There is a lot of speculation of who Floyd Mayweather 48-0 (26 KO’s) will face this upcoming September for the last fight of his professional career.
Whether this will be Mayweather’s final professional fight remains to be seen, as boxers often retire, come out of retirement, then retire again and return again, so on and so on.
Sugar Ray Leonard, Felix Trinidad, even Floyd Mayweather serve as prime examples.
But this will be the last fight for Mayweather under his current Showtime contract and he looks to go out with a bang.
Courtesy of FightHype.
It may be safe to say a rematch with Manny Pacquiao 57-6-2 (38 KO’s) will not happen. Although their fight this past May was the biggest fight ever from a financial perspective, many casual fans did not enjoy the outcome of the event.
The Mayweather and Pacquiao camps still do not like one another and even though the financial implications of a rematch between the two would be enormous, amongst the myriad of excuses and continued banter between the camps, a rematch appears unlikely at least in the immediate future.
Keith Thurman 25-0 (21 KO’s) is a young exciting welterweight, possesses great punching power, has speed, appears to get better with each fight and has an exciting, transcendent personality.
Thurman however, is fighting Luis Collazo 36-6 (19 KO’s) July 11th and the turnaround to face Mayweather in September may be too soon for “One Time.”
Shawn Porter 25-1-1 (16 KO’s) and Adrien Broner 30-1 (22 KO’s) will face on later in June, the turnaround may be too quick for the victor for that fight as well.
If Broner were to win, it’s hard to imagine Broner fighting his mentor Mayweather, a person he refers to as his “Big brother.” It’s like watching Daniel-son challenging Mr. Miyagi.
Timothy Bradley 31-1-1 (12 KO’s) and Jessie Vargas 26-0 (9 KO’s) will be engaging in battle later this June and both guys are under Top Rank Promotions. The winner of their match-up is more likely to get a shot at Pacquiao as opposed to Mayweather.
Mayweather already beat Robert Guerrero 32-3-1 (18 KO’s) and Marcos Maidana 35-5 (31 KO’s).
Kell Brook 35-0 (24 KO’s) is the IBF Champion and appears to be one of the best fighters in boxing. Brook would certainly welcome the challenge of facing Mayweather, but Brook has a fight lined up in August and is certainly aiming to take down British rival Amir Khan 31-3 (19 KO’s).
Speaking of Khan, who possesses enough hand speed and skill to threaten Mayweather, has the name recognition, but is not a match many people want to see. There seems to be an impression that suggests Khan hasn’t necessarily earned a shot against Mayweather.
There are a few fights for Mayweather at the higher weights. A rematch with Saul Alvarez 45-1-1 (32 KO’s), a rematch with lineal middleweight champion Miguel Cotto 39-4 (32 KO’s) and some people have suggested a match-up with boxing’s supposed boogeyman, Gennady Golovkin 33-0 (30 KO’s).
A fight and potential victory over Cotto could be historic for Mayweather, as he would have the opportunity to capture a world title in his sixth weight class and would capture a lineal title in his fifth weight class.
Golovkin would probably be the most difficult fight for Mayweather because of Golovkin’s natural size and strength advantages. Golovkin is also marketed and thought of as the most dangerous man in boxing right now, a potential victory over him may silence some critics of Mayweather.
But then again, there is always going another fighter hyped up as someone Mayweather should fight. Pacquiao, Alvarez, Cotto, etc. were marketed as such and he beat them all. Golovkin is in that category now.
Theoretically if Mayweather were to beat him, critics would still find something negative to say and would probably suggest that Mayweather should move up to heavyweight and fight everyone in that division.
Analyzing the situation, there isn’t anything Mayweather can do that can top his victory over Manny Pacquiao.
It was deemed as the fight of this century, a monumental match-up between two legendary fighters, a battle for more than just welterweight titles, as this was a battle for historic placement and a battle for bragging rights as the best fighter of their generation.
There’s nothing much to be said or done for either fighter.
It somewhat draws comparison to Michael Jordan hitting his clutch shot against the Utah Jazz in Game 6 of the NBA Finals back in 1998.
That clutch shot, not only securing Jordan and the Chicago Bulls a sixth championship, but that shot further solidifying Jordan’s greatness and walking away at the top of his game with his greatest moment as a professional.
Mayweather’s September opponent more than likely will be Khan, but Floyd may be better off walking off into the sunset and retiring.
I can imagine it’s difficult to turn down $30 million fighting whoever the opponent will be in September, but there’s nothing really for Mayweather to gain in his last fight this September.