Mayweather’s next opponent decided within 2 weeks for September 13th fight

By Boxing News - 05/19/2014 - Comments

floyd222By Chris Williams: Floyd Mayweather Jr. (46-0, 26 KO’s) is working on selecting his next opponent for his September 13th fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mayweather is expected to have his next opponent nailed down within the next 2 weeks. The opponent is being picked out from a handful of top named fighters that include Marcos Maidana, Shawn Porter, Keith Thurman, Amir Khan and Danny Garcia.

Khan, 27, is kind of uncertain for the fight due to Ramadan, but Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellberbe has a message for Khan in that if he wants to fight Mayweather, he’s going to need to be available for the September 13th fight date. In other words, Mayweather isn’t going to be moving his fight date just to accommodate Khan.

“We’re looking at opponents now,” Ellerbe said to Dan Rafael of ESPN. “In the next two weeks we’ll have that part figured out. He’s [Maidana] definitely in the mix…There’s a long list of opponents. If Amir Khan wants to fight Floyd Mayweather, we’re fighting on September 13.”

Porter and Thurman would be good, but they’ll likely not make the cut this time around. They still need a couple of more fights under their belts against good opposition with a name. Thus far, Porter and Thurman haven’t faced anyone that you can call a really good welterweight. Porter recently beat Paulie Malignaggi, but he’s an old lion without much power to speak of. Beating him isn’t nearly enough to get a fight against Mayweather.

Danny Garcia is the perfect opponent for Mayweather. He’s popular, unbeaten, and the best fighter in his division. Mayweather vs. Garcia would be an excellent fight, and it would give Mayweather an unbeaten opponent with a good rep for him to fight.

Khan is hurting himself by having restrictions for when he can fight. That might work with him calling the shots against guys like Luis Collazo, Carlos Molina and Julio Diaz, but it’s a different story against Mayweather. Khan needs to be available for September and May for him to increase his chances of getting the fight against Mayweather. Khan also is a couple fights away before he can be in the running for a Mayweather fight. Khan needs at least two wins against quality opponents. He recently mentioned Victor Ortiz and Robert Guerrero as two guys he’s looking at for his next fight, but those guys aren’t good enough to put Khan in the running for a Mayweather fight.

Maidana deserves a rematch, but the problem is it’s about money. If Mayweather’s fight against Maidana fails to bring in the PPV numbers for their May 3rd fight, then Maidana will likely be skipped over for a bigger name.



Comments are closed.