By Allan Fox: Just two days after saying he won’t be returning to boxing, Floyd Mayweather Jr. revealed on his Instagram site that he’s coming out of retirement next year and he’ll be working with Dana White on a “spectacular event.”
Mayweather isn’t saying it but we’re probably looking at him fighting another exhibition match similar to the last one he had against a hapless 20-year-old a year ago. That was just so bad to watch that hurt ones eyes.
Unfortunately, that could very well mean that the 42-year-old Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) will be facing another MMA fighter in a boxing event. In Mayweather’s last two fights, if you want to call them that, he’s beaten MMA guys Conor McGregor and Tenshin Nasukawa by knockouts.
The fights were so uncompetitive and arguably unfair, it wasn’t remotely interesting to fans. The fans are tired of watching Mayweather beat up on MMA guys that have no experience in the sport, and have zero chance of beating him.
Mayweather says he’s coming out of retirement in 2020
“Coming out of retirement in 2020,” said Mayweather on his Instagram site. “@danawhite and I working together again to bring the world another spectacular event in 2020.”
The boxing fans don’t want to see Mayweather in mismatches like we saw in the last two years in his fights against McGregor and Tenshin. If Mayweather is going to come out of retirement, they want to see him fighting these guys:
- Saul Canelo Alvarez
- Manny Pacquiao
- Gennadiy Golovkin
- Errol Spence Jr.
- Terence Crawford
Those are the main guys that the fans want to see Mayweather fight, but it’s highly unlikely he’ll face any of them. Mayweather said this week that his health is important to him, and that he just wants to do exhibition matches.
Mayweather: I make great money doing exhibitions
“I’ve got calls to get back into the ring, but my health is my wealth,” said Mayweather vis skysports.com. “Boxing is a very, very brutal sport. In the last few years a lot of fighters have died inside that squared circle,” said Mayweather.”You have got to know when to hang it up. I had a great career.”I’ll still travel and do exhibitions,” said Mayweather. “I make great money doing exhibitions – between $10 and $30million.”
So there it is. Mayweather saying that he wants to do exhibition matches, and make easy money.
White is the head of the UFC, one of the MMA organizations, but he’s getting into boxing. The belief is that White will try and do the same thing in boxing that he did in MMA by having a company that only matches it’s fighters gets each other.
White had success with the UFC, as they’re the most recognizable MMA company. It’s different with boxing, because there are different promoters and networks, and it’s going to be impossible to have an isolated group that is watched more than the others.
Will fans want to see Mayweather in more exhibition matches?
Mayweather was able to get a lot of boxing fans willing to pay their hard-earned money to watch him beat UFC fighter Conor McGregor in a boxing match in 2017, but that idea might not work now. The fans are wise to the mismatches, and they understand that MMA guys stand no chance of beating Mayweather or any talented boxer. It’s going to be wretched if Mayweather continues to sell these woefully bad fights to the boxing public in hopes of making money off them.
You can argue that it hurts the sport due to the poor quality of the fights. Mayweather hand-picking his opponents from an entirely different sport, it’s grossly unfair. Just imagine if an NFL team selected a tennis player to be the quarterback during the Super Bowl game. The fans would be highly upset at the poor quality of the play from the unskilled guy. It applies to boxing as well. Mayweather fighting MMA guys is just so awful to watch, and it arguably lowers the sport.