By John Kelvin: Floyd Mayweather Jr. has four fights left in his six fight showtime deal. The first of these fights is expected to take place on the 3rd of May 2014 and the last is expected to take place sometime in September 2015. The question is, who will these four opponents be? There seems to be two names in the running for May 3rd, Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana.
Mayweather has in the last week encouraged the fans to decide who he is to face by taking part in a poll. Regardless of the results, many expect Amir Khan to be facing Mayweather on May 3rd, deserving or not. Khan has no fights at 147lbs, whereas Maidana has four consecutive wins at the weight and holds a championship. Khan has two knockout losses and has been knocked down numerous times, Maidana has never been stopped. None of this matters as Khan is simply more well known than Maidana and is able to bring the British PPV market which will create a considerably larger purse for Mayweather. Mayweather wants to have as many successful PPV’s as possible so that he can earn as much money as he can before he retires. This is why i believe Khan will get the May date.
This does not mean that Maidana is totally eliminated from the Mayweather sweepstakes. Not fighting Maidana in May could be a smart business move by Floyd. If Maidana defeats Adrien Broner for a second time in their rematch then he will be viewed in the eyes of many fans as the best of the current welterweights. This will mean that there will be more demand for him to face Mayweather, so there will be a higher PPV buyrate and the fight will generate more money than it would if it was to take place in May. If Maidana defeats Broner, this fight will be highly likely for September.
After Maidana and Khan, there are not many big names in the welterweight division which will make successful PPV’s (No point in mentioning Top Rank promoted fighters). If Keith Thurman continues to win and look exciting in doing so, he may generate a lot of hype and excitement from the media and fans so it is conceivable that he may face Mayweather. Danny Garcia may have one or two more fights at 140lbs and then move up to 147lbs, where he would be a hot favourite to be the opponent in Mayweather’s last fight if was able to have a few wins or grab a belt. Cotto and Canelo may also have outside chances of gaining rematches with Mayweather, depending on how they look in future fights.
Many fans are also mentioning the names of Gennady Golovkin, Sergio Martinez and Erislandy Lara as potential Mayweather opponents. Lets be realistic, those fights are never going to happen. For a start the weight difference would be too much, Mayweather is in reality a 140lb fighter and would never be able to weigh anywhere near 160 never mind face opponents who would be weighing 180lb to 190lb come fight night. More importantly Martinez and Golovkin are with a rival network which seems reluctant to deal with Mayweather’s network or Golden Boy Promotions. In Lara’s case, he is simply not well known enough or exciting enough to make for a successful PPV.
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