By Ivan G. Goldman
If Floyd Mayweather squares off with Andre Berto Sept. 12 thatโs not a particularly bad thing. It will be free to viewers and at age 38 and after 48 outings the champ is entitled to a tune-up.
And yes, I know I wrote recently that I donโt much care who Mayweather fights next because there are plenty of other fighters who are more interesting to watch. But the boxing world is in fact very much Floyd-centric and if we ignored the Mayweather buzz we wouldnโt be doing our job.
If CBS wants to throw $32 million at him for fighting someone whoโs on nobodyโs top ten list of welterweights (at least Berto doesnโt deserve to be) thatโs not particularly awful. Mayweather is more entitled to such sums than an obnoxious fat-cat like Donald Trump who was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.
Berto, age 33, is 30-3, 23 KOs and lost three of his last six fights. If youโre a glass half-full kind of thinker, he won three of his last six. He tested positive for an anabolic steroid three years ago, which torpedoed a rematch with Victor Ortiz. Heโd lost his welterweight belt to Ortiz a year earlier.
Everyone is saying sweetscience.com reported Mayweather-Berto as a done deal, but thatโs not how I read the story, which attributed its reporting to โword on the street.โ Is a rumor about a rumor worth reporting? Frankly, no. But the whole world pays attention so we canโt just skip it.
The possibly more trustworthy Los Angeles Times says the date, the network, and the opponent are all uncertain. โOfficialsโ speaking to the Times called the sweetscience.com report โpremature.โ Whatโs an official? Your guess is as good as mine. Could be someone at CBS, maybe the guy who cleans out the trash bins or something.
But we all know the drill. This is what always happens prior to a Mayweather fight. Lots of rumors and speculation. And the bottom line is, as Iโve pointed out previously, there are just about always more enticing fights to care about.
For instance youโve got light heavyweights Sergey Kovalev and Nadjib Mohammed July 25 in Las Vegas carried by HBO. I say that in jest, okay? 5dimes odds are Kovalev -10,000 and Mohammad +4,000 and thatโs apparently no misprint. You have to put up $10,000 to win $100 on Kovalev and $100 on his opponent can win you $4,000. Betting on Mohammad is kind of like putting a buck on Powerball. You never know.
Presumably the odds will be closer for Beibut Shumenov versus B.J. Flores the same night in the same town, a PBC cruiserweight bout match to be presented on NBC Sportsnet.
5dimes sees featherweights Abner Mares-Leo Santa Cruz on August 29 in Los Angeles as a dead-even tossup. Thatโs on ESPN and ESPN Deportes. Take note that Al Haymonโs PBC, often accused of putting together one-sided contests, deserves credit on this one for staging a gamble.
Also interesting is an HBO contest on Oct. 24 in Germany, where Wladimir Klitschko will put up all his heavyweight belts against undefeated British giant Tyson Fury. Thatโs -450 Klitschko, +330 Fury.
As for Mayweather versus whomever on whenever, they donโt post odds on rumors.
Ivan G. Goldmanโs 5th novel The Debtor Class is a ‘gripping …triumphant read,’ says Publishers Weekly. A future cult classic with ‘howlingly funny dialogue,’ says Booklist. Available now from Permanent Press wherever fine books are sold. Goldman is a New York Times best-selling author.
