What’s after Canelo for Floyd?

By Boxing News - 09/05/2013 - Comments

floyd4411By Duke Pahulu: Most reasonable people are predicting Floyd Mayweather Jr. to hand Saul “Canelo” Alvarez his first loss next Saturday. That leaves four more bouts left on Floyd’s current contract with Showtime. Floyd’s fight after Canelo should be the winner of Danny Garcia-Lucas Matthysee. Why else does Floyd put that bout on the undercard?

The fight isn’t going to add to PPV sales. Floyd is smart enough to know that in order for his next fight to sell, he needs to put the potential opponent in the spotlight for the casual fans to take notice. Garcia-Matthysee promises to be a barn-burner and the winner will ride the exposure and hype into his own fight with Floyd.

After that bout, things get murky. Money wise, the choice after Garcia/Matthysee would be Amir Khan. The big problem with that is he’s slated to fight Devon Alexander. Khan was just embarrassed by a washed-up lightweight in Julio Diaz. Devon Alexander is a solid pro in his prime and should be the favorite in that fight which will squash any hopes of a Floyd-Khan showdown. That would leave Keith Thurman.

Golden Boy wants to put Thurman in with Jesus Soto Karass which would be a step up but a bout Thurman should win. If Khan goes down, Floyd should make the move of putting Thurman on the undercard of his bout with Garcia/Matthysee to hype him up to the casual fan.

After Thurman, Alexander can get his turn if Floyd is generous but my feelings are that Floyd will skip on one fight in his contract due to lack of time. He’s got until May of 2015 to fight four more times after Canelo. I highly doubt Floyd is going to fight three times next year or twice in 2015 before May. Floyd’s hands won’t hold up to that busy a schedule. He hurt his hand against Robert Guerrero of all people.

Floyd will fight in May and September of next year and then May of 2015. Which leads to Floyd’s last fight on his contract. If that fight happens to be Floyd’s last fight in his career, he’ll want a blockbuster. And since Top Rank fighters are not in the discussion due to the cold war between Golden Boy and Top Rank, here are my three picks for Floyd’s farewell. The easy choice would be a Canelo rematch.

Golden Boy can put Canelo back on track by feeding him junior middles that are good in name alone. Alfred Angulo and K-9 Brundage come to mind. Those two fighters would produce the kind of fireworks that would rebound his career and put him back to top form.

My second choice would Peter Quillin. I know Quillin is a middleweight with a paper title but he has great holes in his defense that Floyd can exploit regardless of weight. And with Floyd, Qullin should be willling to meet him at a catchweight of 158 or 157. I know you’re asking “what about Martinez or Golovkin?”

Both of those fighters are associated with HBO and HBO isn’t going to allow any of their stars to hop to Showtime without problems. I know Quillin is a reach but with Golden Boy lacking of stars within 147 and 154, they need a story that can resonate with the general public to drum up interest. Floyd, the small welterweight, going after the young big middleweight in Peter Quillin for his 160 title. That sells!

My last option would be Andrien Broner. I know Floyd and Broner both stated they would never fight each other but it’s in the best interest of Golden Boy to make the fight. Golden Boy is putting Broner on his first headlining ppv card with Marcos Maidana. The only way Golden Boy is going to build on Broner is if he fights big names. And if Floyd’s last fight on his contract is his last fight period, why not give “the mini-Broner” a taste of how it is being the ppv king?

Match-up wise, Floyd will beat Broner but it should help Broner grow into his own. A loss should be a sign to drop the Floyd act and be himself. The exposure of the fight will lend him to casual fans and force Broner to fight top flight competition to warrant ppv main events. But all this is just talk. Anything can happen in Boxing. But right now, the safest bet in all of sports is Floyd wins by UD.



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