By Kirk Jackson

The opponent to whom Floyd Mayweather will be facing this upcoming May, has been a long lingering question since Mayweather’s domination of former junior middleweight king Saul “Canelo” Alvarez this past September.

Many fans of course want the long awaited match-up between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. The money man himself shot down hopes of that clash ever happening a few months back. Well he said the fight will never happen as long Top Rank Promoter Bob Arum is involved.

I’m in the minority and think the fight will still happen eventually. I believe the outright rejection of the potential match-up, is a smokescreen and the fight will eventually either later this year or sometime next year.

Which leaves a large gap of time before the eventual fight occurs and of course with Floyd’s huge contract with the Showtime network, he will be fighting every May and September.

Mayweather recently took to Instagram earlier in the week, asking fans who he should fight next with the options being Marcos Maidana or Amir Khan.

Amir Khan has been petitioning for a fight with Mayweather for the past couple of years now. He wants the big payday, wants the chance to test himself against the best fighter in the world and realizes this is his best opportunity to do so, with the soon to be 37-year old Mayweather getting slightly slower as time passes.

Khan may not necessarily qualified to fight the best fighter pound for pound. Khan has faced a stretch of limited activity over the past couple of years and suffered defeats against Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia. Guys who are junior welterweights by the way. Khan also struggled against a faded former lightweight champion, Julio Diaz in his most recent bout.

Despite his marketability, making frequent appearances on television shows including “106 & Park” and his seemingly increasing fan base, I don’t think Khan will get the fight he’s been yearning for.

Maidana is coming off an impressive victory over one of boxing’s young stars Adrien Broner. He’s a reformed action fighter, possessing a blood and guts style that attracts many fans. He’s a fighter who paid his dues, and even though he lost a tough fight to Khan four years ago, he’s definitely earned his shot and he’s in a better position.

A Mayweather-Maidana match-up will be an interesting fight, with Maidana possessing the punching power and refined craft to legitimately cause concern for Mayweather. It’s also the most credible opponent for Mayweather to face in the welterweight division aside from Timothy Bradley.

Some fans can get behind this fight and will probably root for the Argentinian, crossing their fingers, hoping he can duplicate his success of beating up another fighter perceived as an arrogant loud mouth. A good idea would be placing Khan vs. Broner on the undercard.

Not sure if the fan’s vote will count, but expect an announcement of the next opponent before thIe end of February. The opponent will be Maidana.

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