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Undefeated Floyd Mayweather is the type who has the ability to look past opponents. So even though he is getting ready to lace up the gloves against Robert Guerrero on Saturday night, that doesn’t mean he is not laying down at least some tentative plans for his next fight.
Maybe that fight won’t take place if he gets retired by Guerrero, although such a scenario is not likely. If he gets beaten and does not hang up the gloves, is a rematch provision, and in such a case Mayweather would probably fight Guerrero again on September 14. If he wins, then it will be another opponent. Mayweather cannot afford to have long hiatuses in his ring activity anymore because of the obligations he has under his new, mammoth Showtime deal. He is looking at six fights over a period of 30 months if he wants to realize the maximum benefits from such an arrangement, and that means he cannot be sitting on his hands, playing coy. By the same token, if he is going to fight often, you can rest assured that the opponents, for the most part, are going to be “safe” enough to allow him to plan ahead.
The early signs are that Mayweather fully intends to be in action again on September 14, which would presumably keep him moving along on schedule. Some have suggested that the foe he’ll choose for that date, which is on Mexican Independence weekend, will be Canelo Alvarez, especially after Alvarez was victorious, but not overwhelming, against Austin Trout in his last outing. That would obviously be a big draw, in light of Alvarez’s established drawing power, which was further affirmed by the Trout fight, which did about 40,000 people at San Antonio’s Alamodome and one of the highest ratings ever for Showtime. Golden Boy Promotions would love to do something along those lines, since it would have an opportunity to make money on a pay per view promotion, because they would literally have a piece of the action. As has been mentioned in this space before, Golden Boy has a working agreement with Mayweather, but no “equity” in him, so to speak. However, the company does have a written agreement in place with Alvarez.
Yes, that would indeed work out from a financial standpoint, but a fight with Alvarez may represent something of a risk to Mayweather, and since it is so early in the Showtime deal he would be more likely to fight for the sake of another payday first. That would mean a date with Devon Alexander, the southpaw who holds the IBF welterweight title, provided Alexander were to get by fringe contender Lee Purdy on May 18. Alexander, who was stopped in his big career test against Timothy Bradley over two years ago, is seen as someone who doesn’t necessarily pose a big threat to Mayweather, either as a boxer or a puncher. That’s the kind of fighter who is going to be an ideal opponent as “Money” looks to fill out his Showtime schedule.
If Mayweather does decide to fight on that September 14 date, Top Rank, which would like to run at the Thomas & Mack Center that night, would probably reschedule. If Mayweather does not go on that night, Golden Boy head honcho Oscar De La Hoya has indicated that Alvarez would headline a card anyway, and it’s a good bet that it would be against someone they can make a pay per view show with. At that point, we wonder what would become of a possible conflict in dates with Top Rank and Bob Arum.
