Mayweather comeback in the works?

By Boxing News - 05/01/2016 - Comments

floyd883 By Jeff Aranow: It’s looking like superstar Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. is poised to launch a comeback to shoot for victory No.50 in his career. Mayweather Promotions has filed for trademarks on ‘TMT 50’ and ‘TBE 50,’ according to ESPN.com.

If that’s not a big hint that we’ll soon be seeing Mayweather comeback, then it’s hard to know what is. Mayweather retired with victory 49 after his one-sided 12 round unanimous decision victory over Andre Berto last September in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mayweather’s record now sits at 49-0 with 26 knockouts, which ties him with the late former heavyweight world champion Rocky Marciano.

Mayweather told Showtime last Saturday that if he did make a comeback, it would be for a payday of “upwards of nine figures.” Seeing Berto find success last Saturday in destroying Victor Ortiz in four rounds might be something that further motivates Mayweather to return to the ring. Trademarking ‘TMT 50’ and ‘TBE 50’ are nice things, but I don’t think Mayweather is going to bring in a lot of PPV buys for his next fight unless he takes on a dangerous threat to him.

He blew it with the Manny Pacquiao fight, and fans will possibly stay angry at him until he fights someone that has a real chance of beating him like Gennady Golovkin. Fighting a simple welterweight may not do the job. Fighting Saul “Canelo” Alvarez again won’t work either. I think the fans want to see Mayweather as an underdog for the first time in his career, and the only way he can do that is if he puts his hide on the line against Golovkin.

That’s the only way I see Mayweather being able to bring the fans back. They’ll come back for that fight, but only because they would see Mayweather in a likely position where he’ll be viciously knocked out by the hard hitting Golovkin. To many boxing fans, this would be payback for them after the money they lost in the boring – and overpriced – Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight.

Mayweather made a big pile of dough in his fight against former eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao last year in May. Mayweather made $220 million for that fight, and that obviously has taken the need for Mayweather to fight away from him. He now has so much money that he can possibly spend it all unless he’s just crazy with his money.

Thus far, Mayweather has been consistently saying that he has zero plans on ever returning to the sport. Mayweather maintains that he’s making seven-figures per month from investment money. With that kind of money, Mayweather has very little need to return to the ring.
The belief is that Mayweather will come back for a big enough payday against someone that he has a good chance of beating without getting his hands dirty.

Fighting Tim Bradley would be an easy fight, but he was just beaten by Pacquiao, so that takes the credit away that Mayweather would get if he were to fight him. IBF and WBA welterweight champions Kell Brook and Keith Thurman would be difficult opponents for Mayweather, especially if he’s coming off a year-long layoff.

Mayweather hasn’t fought since September of last year. Since he usually fights in May and September on the Mexican holiday dates, then if he’s to come back in 2016, it would be in September of this year.

Mayweather would have to potentially compete with a fight between WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin if Canelo chooses to take that fight. As popular as Mayweather is, it would be difficult for him to push Canelo-Golovkin off the Mexican holiday date in September. That’s an immovable fight unless Mayweather takes on someone really popular.

Fighting WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia won’t be a big enough fight. The fans will perceive that as a mismatch, and I think the cable providers will see it in the same light. Golovkin vs. Canelo is a blockbuster, and even a popular fighter like Mayweather wouldn’t be able to compete with that unless he takes on a really dangerous opponent.

At this point, I think Mayweather has burned his bridges with many boxing fans after his fight against Pacquiao. Even if Mayweather takes on a dangerous foe like Thurman or Brook, I still don’t see the fight generating big PPV numbers. Golovkin-Canelo is a bigger fight than anything Mayweather could do right now, and I think the internet providers would recognize that and tell Mayweather ‘Sorry, but you’ll need to find another date to fight because Canelo-Golovkin have that date.’