By Chris Williams: Have we seen the last of Floyd Mayweather Jr. fighting within one division, fighting for the welterweight crown and taking on all comers? It seems to me that Mayweather’s days of fighting opponents from his own weight class are here and gone. That’s something that I really find disappointing about Mayweather. I hope I’m wrong about him, but I have a feeling that Mayweather is going to stick to fighting smaller fighters for what’s left of his career.
He’s 32 now, and if Mayweather makes a huge killing in a fight with Manny Pacquiao in 2010, we might see Mayweather go into another one of his dormant periods where he says he’s retiring from boxing. Any retirement must be seen as a temporary thing for Mayweather, because if he’s still unbeaten, there will be fighters – probably from the lower weight classes – that will rise up, become popular and be a tempting lure for Mayweather to come out of retirement once again. Plus, if Mayweather goes through his money at a fast rate, he’ll likely need cash again in the future to replenish the money that’s been burned up.
I can’t get excited at the thought of seeing Mayweather fight any additional smaller fighters like Juan Manuel Marquez. That’s off putting as far as I’m concerned. It’s not sporting to see a fighter like Mayweather, who would be trouble for any one in his own weight class short of Paul Williams, swoop down on fighters from the smaller weight classes to fight.
Even if those fighters are popular, it’s distasteful to see Mayweather fighting them. But we may have to get used to seeing Mayweather fight the smaller fighters because he seems to be showing zero interest in fighting any of the top welterweights or light middleweights.
Thus far, Mayweather has fought two smaller fighters back to back – Ricky Hatton and Juan Manuel Marquez. In 2010, Mayweather will likely fight Manny Pacquiao, who is really a blown up super featherweight. I think that fight is actually interesting because Pacquiao has been beating up on bigger fighters than him, so he might actually be competitive with Mayweather.
I doubt Pacquiao will, because he will be much smaller than Mayweather, but since Pacquiao is ranked high in the welterweight division by the WBO, and could possibly beat Miguel Cotto next month, I would have no problems with Mayweather fighting Pacquiao in that case. But once Pacquiao is out of the way, I don’t see any point in Mayweather continuing to cherry pick from the lighter weight classes.
I don’t know who would actually be left for him to fight anyway. Timothy Bradley, the best fighter in the light welterweight division according to some people, isn’t really popular enough for Mayweather to turn it into a mega fight. It might not matter, though, if boxing fans pay just to see Mayweather fight.
But I don’t see Bradley as a viable choice for Mayweather and he might be too dangerous for Mayweather because of Bradley’s hand speed. Amir Khan is an option. He holds down the WBA crown, a title that he won over one of the weaker light welterweight champions Andriy Kotelnik recently.
A fight against Khan would hold little value in the U.S., because Khan has done little to redeem himself after being flattened last year in a 1st round knockout by Breidis Prescott. Besides that, Khan isn’t well known in the U.S, and still won’t be after his fight against Dmitry Salita in December.
I just don’t see Mayweather fighting any light welterweight opponents anyway. There aren’t enough popular fighters that are bait for Mayweather to slither in and fight. My guess is that Mayweather will be looking to fight a lightweight or a super featherweight in the future. He may have lost a potential opponent in super featherweight Jorge Linares, who was stopped in a 1st round knockout earlier today. Although Linares will likely try and avenge the defeat soon enough, it still looks bad for Mayweather to fight a guy that was so recently destroyed.
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