By Jason Kim: It’s now been exactly a year since Floyd Mayweather Jr. last fought and more than a few boxing fans and writers are confused about what’s holding him back from fighting. Knowing how much Mayweather loves money, it’s very strange that he wouldn’t take the opportunity to make more of it by fighting someone – anyone. Freddie Roach, the trainer for Manny Pacquiao, doesn’t understand why Mayweather isn’t fighting.
Roach had this to say in an interview at examiner.com: “I would not be surprised if Floyd never fights again. Fighting at this level is something that is addictive and maybe Mayweather doesn’t feel the urge to fight anymore. If that is the case, he is better off not to fight. I just can’t see why the guy has taken a whole year off, I just don’t get it. So, if he does not fight Manny or does not fight anybody, no, I will not be surprised.”
Roach raises some good points. Mayweather isn’t getting any younger and he’s not helping himself by staying out of the ring for this long. There seems to be a pattern where Mayweather will fight an important fight and get a huge payday, and he’ll then follow that by a long period where he’s out of the ring spending all the money that he made in that important fight.
Indeed, Mayweather fought Ricky Hatton in 2007, and didn’t fight again for two years until getting back in the ring against Juan Manuel Marquez in 2009. The Marquez fight wasn’t a huge payday, so we then saw Mayweather fight seven months later against Shane Mosley for what was a big payday in May 2010. Now we’ve had Mayweather out of the ring since then spending his money and not fighting.
Given how short boxing careers are, Mayweather isn’t doing himself any favors by staying out of the ring and wasting time and opportunities to maximize his earning potential by fighting regularly. He may be sorry for it later when his talent dries up and he ends up blowing all of his money. It would be sad to see Mayweather fighting in his 40s to try and make a living after he’s lost his reflexes.
I doubt Mayweather will never fight again. His money will be gone sooner or later and he’ll have to fight. But I can understand Roach’s frustration at trying to understand Mayweather. Roach no doubt wants to see Mayweather fight his Pacquiao to see the two guys go at it and to take advantage of the rewards a big fight like that would bring in. However, Mayweather won’t likely get back in the ring until he finds the need and that likely means when his pocketbook starts looking a little empty.
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