By Matt Stein: It’s been almost two years since Floyd Mayweather Jr. (39-0, 25 KOs) last fought, but finally Floyd is ready to make his comeback according to ESPN. Mayweather, 32, will be fighting Juan Manuel Marquez on July 18th at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, with the fight likely to be announced on Saturday at a press conference. Mayweather is reportedly having some problems with the IRS, and this could be one of the reasons for his decision to make a comeback.
The timing couldn’t be better for Mayweather, with Ricky Hatton about to face Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas. It would seem logical that Mayweather Jr. would want to fight the winner of the Hatton-Pacquiao fight.
After all, either of them would bring in a lot more money for Mayweather than his fight with Marquez will. The one problem that I can think of right off the bat is if Hatton ends up beating Pacquiao. Hatton has already had a chance at Mayweather before, and ended up losing by a 10th round TKO in December 2007.
This was actually Mayweather’s last fight, because he then retired after the bout and has not fought since then. Given the one-sided nature of Mayweather’s previous fight with Hatton, I wouldn’t exactly be the first one in line to scoop up a ticket to watch Hatton get beaten into the canvas once more by Mayweather.
I’m no Pacquiao fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it would be best for boxing as a whole if Pacquiao ends up beating Hatton on Saturday night, just so that Pacquiao can be the one that ends up facing Hatton. We need new blood in there with Mayweather, and besides, Hatton already had his one bite off the apple and he screwed things up by getting beaten up badly.
Now it’s best that Pacquiao beat Hatton senseless so that we can have a different outcome. I know don’t know whether Pacquiao could beat Mayweather or not (I tend to doubt it based on the size proportions alone between the two fighters), but I think Pacquiao has the speed to do a much better job than Hatton did in 2007.
Of course, no one can guarantee that Mayweather will be able to get by Marquez so easily. While Mayweather has been inactive for almost two years, Marquez has continued fighting and has looked impressive in fighting to a controversial 12-round draw with Pacquiao in 2008, and stopping Juan Diaz in the 9th round to capture the WBA lightweight title in February 2009.
Marquez may not have the size of Mayweather, but he’s got better skills than Hatton and will likely give Mayweather a tough fight. The bout will take place at 144, a weight that Marquez wanted because he has to move up in weight from the lightweight division to take the fight. That would be roughly a nine pound weight gain for Marquez, who fought at 135 in capturing the WBA lightweight title in his last fight.
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