By Eric Thomas: In the latest boxing news, undefeated WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (39-0, 25 KOs) has came out today and announced that he’s permanently retiring from boxing effective immediately. The 31 year-old Mayweather won’t be fighting one last fight against Oscar De La Hoya, which had been previously scheduled for September 20th, and one that was looked forward to by many fans of both fighters. It’s unclear whether or not Mayweather, a fighter that carries his emotions on his sleeves, intends on staying retired for long, however. Right now, Mayweather has made a huge bundle of money in his last two fights against De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton, both of whom he defeated.

He also made another huge payday at the WrestleMania XXIX, which took place in March, 2008. With that kind of money, it’s not surprising that Mayweather wants to step away from the sport, especially now that he has a number of hard fights in the future staring down at him.

In particular, if Mayweather would have been able to have beaten De La Hoya in their rematch (a strong likelihood) in September, then the boxing fans would be putting huge pressure on Mayweather to fight Miguel Cotto, the WBA welterweight champion, and the fighter that many people feel is the best welterweight in the division. Mayweather, generally very concerned about his image in boxing, would probably have felt obligated to fight Cotto. That, however, would have been a very tough fight for Mayweather, totally unlike anything that he had experienced before in his career given the tremendous power and talent of Cotto. Many people believe, and this writer included among them, that Cotto could beat Mayweather if given a chance.

Besides that, there were other top welterweights breathing down Mayweather’s neck, such as Antonio Margarito, Andre Berto, Carlos Quintana and Paul Williams, none of them easy wins. Indeed, Mayweather has seemingly gone against soft opponents in recent years, taking on Carlos Baldomir, Zab Judah, De La Hoya, Sharmba Mitchell and Arturo Gatti, while at the same time avoiding the best welterweights in the division, specifically the aforementioned Williams, Cotto, Margarito, Quintana and Berto.

If Mayweather had continued fighting, he’d have likely taken on Hatton once again, a fight that only rabid Hatton fans would want to see, following Mayweather’s September bout against De La Hoya. After that, who knows? I doubt, however, Mayweather would have gotten anywhere near fighting Cotto, Williams or Margarito, and we’d have to settle for something odd and disappointing, perhaps something Mayweather vs. middleweight John Duddy or Manny Pacquiao.

For that reason, maybe it’s best that Mayweather turn around and retire from boxing, at least the fans will be spared having to watch him fight De La Hoya again, which doesn’t seem to appeal to most of them. I don’t for a second believe that this retirement will be lasting. To be sure, I see Mayweather staying out of boxing for possible six months to a year and then being lured back by a fight against Hatton or De La Hoya. Unfortunately, we’ll probably never see Mayweather, 31, fight Cotto because I personally think Mayweather is in the shutdown mode in terms of competitive fights.

Mayweather will come back alright, you can bank on it, but it will be some kind of ridiculous farce, not something that will get fans excited about it. Perhaps some point in the future, if Mayweather blows all of his money like most boxers often do, he’ll come back and take a dangerous fight. By then, however, he won’t most likely be in the position of winning because of too much time having elapsed, with his boxing skills largely gone.