By Scott Gilfoid: If Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) decides on facing Britain’s Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) next on September 12th, then Mayweather might want to think twice about taking that fight. ESPN’s Dan Rafael thinks the Mayweather vs. Khan fight will do no better than 800,000 pay-per-view buys on Showtime PPV. That’s obviously a huge departure from the tremendous PPV numbers for Mayweather’s recent clash against Manny Pacquiao last month on May 2nd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The final PPV numbers for that fight have still yet to be released in an official capacity, but the fight is expected to bring in over 5 million PPV buys in a duel HBO/Showtime telecast.
When asked if the Mayweather-Khan fight would bring in only 400,000 PPV buys, Rafael said on his boxing chat at ESPN.com “Double that.”
What that means is the Mayweather-Khan fight won’t do any better than Mayweather’s fights against Marcos Maidana and Robert Guerrero in terms of PPV numbers. I’m not sure if it’s really worth it for Mayweather to take the Khan fight if it’s only going to bring in a measly 800K buys. Heck, Mayweather might as well fight a rematch with Guerrero, or face Maidana another time if all he’s going to get is 800,000 PPV buys for a bout against Khan.
Frankly, the Mayweather-Khan fight doesn’t really interest me much, because I can already picture how it will go. Khan will be fighting leaning backwards, mostly jabbing, shoving, putting Mayweather in frequent head-locks, and then running around the ring in huge circles. In other words, it’ll be a total tactical battle with neither guy taking the lead. Khan isn’t the right type of an opponent for Mayweather. I think I’d much prefer to see Mayweather fight someone like Lamont Peterson or Lucas Matthysse because at least with those guys, they’d be coming forward looking to mix it up with Mayweather the entire time.
The PPV numbers for a Mayweather fight against Matthysse or Peterson would obviously be very low, but then again so will the Mayweather-Khan fight. If Mayweather is looking at low PPV numbers no matter which direction he goes in, then he should opt to face the most exciting opponent that he ca. In this case, I think Matthysse or Peterson would be the better option for Mayweather to fight than for him to take on a guy like Khan who will be wrapping him up in head-locks 24/7.
There is a great deal of interest from boxing fans in seeing Mayweather fight WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin in a fight at 154. It would be a huge fight, because Golovkin would have a good chance of beating Mayweather. It would be a more competitive fight than Mayweather’s fight against Manny Pacquiao was by far. Golovkin would take the fight to Mayweather from start to finish, and he wouldn’t be standing on the outside looking paralyzed like Pacquiao was the entire fight. Golovkin would earn his money against Mayweather by giving it all he had for the full 12 rounds. I think the fans would really appreciate Mayweather for giving them a great fight rather than a potential stinker against Khan.
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