By Allan Fox: Unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. has reportedly signed a six-fight deal with Showtime/CBS pay per view deal that could take Mayweather to the end of his career. The deal is for 30 months, so Mayweather is going to have to stay active if he’s going to squeeze in all of those fights.
He’s not going to be able to fight once a year like he’s been doing if he wants to get in all six of the fights. Mayweather’s first fight of the new contract will be against Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero on May 4th.
Mayweather’s adviser Leonard Ellerbe told ESPN “HBO, they made a great offer, but Showtime PPV/CBS was substantially greater in every facet. So bottom line, HBO was outgunned. They came to a gun fight with a knife.”
HBO’s statement on losing Mayweather as quoted from Rafael “We made an aggressive offer and responsible pay per view offer. Now we move on.”
Showtime/CBS may not be getting as good of a deal as they think. Mayweather looked vulnerable and old in his last fight against Miguel Cotto a year ago in May, and you can’t expect that the time off has turned Mayweather into a younger fighter. Mayweather might not have more than 1 or 2 big fights left in him before he starts taking losses.
Mayweather might not even get past Guerrero on May 4th, and then Showtime/CBS will be stuck with a huge contract for a fighter that is no longer what he once was. Mayweather will still be able to attract big numbers on PPV even while losing because look at Manny Pacquiao, but the numbers won’t stay high if Mayweather isn’t able to beat the top fighters in the division any longer.
Six fights is a long time for a 36-year-old fighter like Mayweather. If he was barely able to beat Miguel Cotto, it doesn’t bode well for Mayweather being able to finish these six fights in top form. If Mayweather does finish out the six fights unbeaten that would be a major accomplishment for him, and Showtime/CBS will have gotten a great deal for their money. However, Mayweather looked so old last May that it’s just not realistic to assume that he’ll be able to stay unbeaten for very much longer.
The good news about this is it’s going to force Mayweather to be a lot more active. He’s been fighting once a year and then disappearing after getting a big paycheck. For Mayweather to fulfill this contract, he’s going to have to fight at least twice a year to get all the fights in within 30 months. Can Mayweather do this? I don’t know. If he keeps disappearing each time he gets a big payday, it won’t happen.
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