By Allen Fox: Reports are out that WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KO’s) and former two division world champion Robert Guerrero (29-1-1, 18 KO’s) are close to having a contract signed for a pay per view fight on May 5th on HBO at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In looking in the boxing forums on the net as well on ESPN writer Dan Rafael’s twitter, the fan reaction to the talked about Mayweather-Guerrero fight is almost 100% negative at this point. There are a few fans that are excited about it but not many.

Mayweather has the option of fighting Guerrero or WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez next. Boxing fans really want to see Mayweather fight the young Alvarez, but that doesn’t appear to be happening. Manny Pacquiao said earlier today that he’ll be taking with his promoter Bob Arum about fighting Mayweather next. If Mayweather is about to sign to fight Guerrero, then he could be shooting himself in the foot by moving too hastily before finding out what Pacquiao is going to do. But then again, perhaps Mayweather never had any intention of fighting Pacquiao next. It would certainly seem that way with the choice of May 5th, the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo, as Mayweather’s next fight. It’s a perfect date for Mayweather to fight a Mexican fighter, not a Filipino like Pacquiao.

Here are some of the major issues boxing fans have with Mayweather possibly selecting Guerrero to fight instead of Alvarez:

• Guerrero fights at lightweight at 135lbs. He’s never fought over that weight and will have to move up two entire divisions to face Mayweather. When fighters typically do that, they get generally get slaughtered. Given that this is a pay per view fight that will likely have an asking price of $55 to $60, fans might not be eager to pay big money for what shapes up to be a mismatch between a bigger guy with better skills and a smaller, weaker guy.

• Guerrero’s opposition has been limited. The best fighter he ever fought was Orlando Salido, who beat him by a 12 round decision. Guerrero’s other wins have come against guys like Michael Katsidis, Joel Casamayor after he got old, Vicente Escobedo, Malcolm Klassen and Jason Litzau. In Guerrero’s fight against Daud Cino Yordan in 2009, Guerrero looked bad and was struggling when the fight was halted after he was cut from a headbutt. Yordan is a good but limited fighter yet he was handling Guerrero fairly easily.

• There won’t be any size advantage for Guerrero against Mayweather. Guerrero, 5’9”, has been able to win titles and do well at featherweight, super featherweight and lightweight due to his bigger size than the guys he’s been facing. But in moving up two divisions to fight Mayweather, Guerrero no longer has the size advantage. He’ll be just another fighter with slower hand speed and not big power. At welterweight, Guerrero doesn’t have power or speed like some of the other welterweights and is just another fighter to be taken apart by Mayweather.

• Guerrero has no fan base aside from locally in the Gilroy, California areas.