By Allan Fox: Dan Rafael of ESPN is reporting that boxing’s No.1 fighter Floyd Mayweather Jr. will no longer be working with Golden Boy Promotions by appearing on their fight cards. This comes after the resignation today of Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, who ended 12 years of working for Golden Boy and building it from the ground up as the company’s CEO.
“Absolutely not,” Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe said when asked by Rafael of ESPN if Mayweather Jr. would still be working with Golden Boy.
This isn’t really a big surprise because Schaefer and Mayweather are good friends and he was instrumental in getting Mayweather to work with Golden Boy. Without Mayweather, though, it’s going to be a big drop off in cash to the company because Mayweather’s fight cards made big money for Golden Boy Promotions. Without Mayweather, Golden Boy is going to take a big cash hit in not having him on their fight cards.
Golden Boy still has Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, so they won’t be too bad off as long as he stays with the company for the remainder of his career. With Mayweather, he only has 3 fights left and it’s doubtful that he’ll fight on after his current contract with Showtime runs out. Golden Boy was going to have to face not having Mayweather eventually, but it looks like his departure has come sooner than they had hoped for.
“We have a great working relationship with Richard Schaefer and that will never change,” Ellerbe said. “Richard is a good friend and a great businessman and an excellent promoter…Mayweather Promotions will continue to promote Floyd’s fights, and Floyd will continue to put on the biggest fights in boxing.”
With Schaefer now gone from Golden Boy, it’s quite possible Al Haymon’s fighters could be gone as well. It would be interesting to see if Haymon’s fighters end up on Mayweather Promotions’ fight cards from now on. That would swing the balance of power from Golden Boy to Mayweather Promotions in a heartbeat.
There’s speculation that Schaefer could wind up working with Mayweather Promotions in some capacity or another. That would also shake things up because Schaefer is an excellent businessman.
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