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By: Hans Themistode
His exhibition contest against Tenshin Nasukawa notwithstanding, Floyd Mayweather has not entered a boxing ring since his 2017 tenth round knockout against Conor McGregor. Yet, that hasn’t stopped countless boxers from calling him out.
Adding his name to the Mayweather sweepstakes that has seemingly been long closed, is current WBC Jr middleweight titlist Jermell Charlo.
Mayweather has always kept the door open just enough for those around the boxing world to speculate if he would return. He recently claimed in late 2019 that he would in fact enter the ring sometime this year but nothing actually materialized from his announcement.
Whether or not he does return to the ring is an ambiguous question. But if he does decide to lace up the gloves again, Charlo believes there is only one name that he should be calling.
“If Floyd wants to come back then best believe he’s going to fight me first,” said Charlo during a recent Instagram live rant. “If he wants to fight a boxer and not an MMA fighter though. If he wants to fight a boxer and he wants a hard fight, then call me.”
A matchup between Charlo and Mayweather has never come close to happening in the past, and seems like an even bigger pipe dream at this current moment. Mayweather, 43, has been linked to eight division world champion and former rival Manny Pacquiao as well as several MMA stars including Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Charlo on the other hand, has his own business to take care of. On September 26th, at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville Connecticut, he’ll take on unified champion Jeison Rosario on pay-per-view.
In no way is Charlo overlooking his opponent, but a win, at least according to him, is a guarantee.
Should he walk out of that contest with his hand raised, Charlo will have a near perfect record and three of the four titles at 154 pounds. Still, even with his popularity soaring and his trophy case overflowing, the Houston native believes that Mayweather will and should steer clear of him should he return.
“I’m going to be honest, fighting me, the risk is not the same,” explained Charlo. “The reward and the risk does not match and I understand that. So I would tell Floyd do everything that he can to keep making money and feed his family. But there are some people in this boxing world that you want to stay away from and I know consciously that I’m one of them.”
