Floyd Mayweather Jr: Who Should He Fight Next?

Moments after Floyd Mayweather’s 10-round destruction of Ricky Hatton last Saturday night, Mayweather commented that he wouldn’t allow boxing to retire him, that he would retire from boxing. However, knowing that Mayweather is often making threats of retiring from boxing but never actually carrying them out, I thought it would be interesting to discuss who Mayweather will likely be facing in the near future. Though, quite frankly, he’s not in need of money after having made $50 million in 2007 alone with his huge mega fights victories over Hatton and Oscar De La Hoya.

I do expect Mayweather to take some time off from boxing, perhaps as much as eight months, but because he’s used to competing fairly regularly since he was a boy, I see him quickly getting restless and wanting to get back in the ring with someone. The general public, it seems, wants Mayweather to fight Miguel Cotto, the World Boxing Association welterweight champion. Cotto is a dangerous fighter, despite being somewhat of a plodder, and with his appeal on the East coast, he’d almost guarantee a huge payday for Mayweather, though not on the level of De La Hoya or Hatton.

He’s clearly better than either of those fighters, but he’s still unknown to a lot of the American fans which would limit the appeal of a perspective Mayweather-Cotto bout. As good as Cotto is, he’s not the best fighter in the welterweight division, perhaps not even the 2nd best, excluding Mayweather. I’d rate both Antonio Margarito and Paul Williams as the best in the welterweight division as of this moment, but Mayweather would likely never fight either of those two, at least not in this lifetime. They’re both much too dangerous for the smaller Mayweather to get in the ring with because he couldn’t depend on pot shotting or “check hooking” his way to victory over either of them.

It’s sad but it’s true. Mayweather, if he decides to fight again, will definitely take on the easier opposition, such as Cotto, Kermit Cintron, Shane Mosley or De La Hoya. That’s Mayweather’s style, to fight lesser fighters like Arturo Gatti, De La Hoya, Hatton, Zab Judah, Carlos Baldomir, Sharmba Mitchell and Henry Bruseles. In fact, much of Mayweather’s career has been spent avoiding the top fighters, instead focusing on the lower level fighters and then bragging that he’s the best after beating them. Of all the fighters that I see Mayweather fighting next, it will likely be Cotto, because Mayweather can probably see that Cotto’s slow of foot and ripe to be out-boxed.

Excluding Cotto, it will probably be De La Hoya again because Mayweather only wants to fight mega fights now, and none of the other fighters in the welterweight division, excluding Cotto, are going to bring him that. Who cares that De La Hoya has lost three out of his last five fights, and looked old all the while, if the public is gullible enough to purchase it, I doubt that it will bother Mayweather much.