By Robert Elmore: Floyd hasn’t uttered a word since his masterpiece against Saul Alvarez. He’s been seen at the Miami Heat practice and hanging with Kobe Bryant, and most recently threw a Halloween bash. Other than that not a word. For a man who is has not said a word to the boxing world about his next opponent, his name is sure making headlines in the media.
Everything from a rumored fight with Amir Khan, to middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (or Triple G), to Gennady’s trainer Abel Sanchez, to Freddie Roach, to light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins, to cruiserweight Roy Jones, has kept Floyd’s name on the end of their tongue. These people know that saying Floyd’s name will bring attention to themselves. Even if they have no intentions of trying to make a fight happen, they know the power of his name. Boxing fans have expressed their opinions as they have found (like me) the challenge from Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones very silly.
Hopkins stated he’s willing to drop to 160 to fight Floyd. Floyd has never weighed over 150 pounds as evident in his fight with Alvarez. Showtime displayed the unofficial weights for both fighters which was highly unusual for Mayweather in a pay per view bout. But the only real people who want these heavier fighters to fight Floyd are those who are itching for him to lose. They’ve been scratching for years for a lost, yet they continue to itch. But the mantle has now been cast on Gennady especially after his victory over Curtis Stevens. He’s would have to lose 6 pounds, but would gain them back upon rehydration. This fight can happen, but there are two things that might keep it from happening. One, Triple G fights on HBO and he would have to leave them for the fight to happen. Two, he has no fan base or brings nothing to the table financially. There were only 4,618 people at the Madison Square Garden Theater in his fight with Stevens so Floyd would carry the fight and Showtime’s All Access. That’s not going to cut it. If the pay per view doesn’t crack the 1 million plus mark, the critics would have a field day. We saw the backlash Floyd got from his fight with Robert Guererro (who was his mandatory challenger by the way). That fight only did 875,000 buys. But Floyd would certainly be caught in the “ah-ha” moment of his critics.
If Floyd’s beats Triple G, which I think he would, then the weight becomes the issue. But if the fight doesn’t happen, Floyd will be a coward. But there is hypocrisy in this situation. There has been talks of a Andre Ward (who fights at 168) Gennady fight as well as a Gennady/Carl Froch (who also fights at 168) fight. It has been said that these fights with Ward or Froch need to “simmer and the fire get hot” before they come to fruition. Whereas the Floyd fight needs no time to simmer at all. Just throw Triple G in the ring with Floyd. The casual boxing fan does not know Triple G. He needs more exposure. In closing, never have I seen a man say nothing, but is saying something. And that’s the case of Floyd Mayweather.
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