By Allan Fox: Super middleweight journeyman Denis Douglin leaked information on Monday about a recent sparring session he had with 43-year-old boxing great Floyd Mayweather Jr.
The 32-year-old Douglin was highly impressed with the talent that the smaller, much older retired billionaire Mayweather Jr. (50-0, 27 KOs) showed during the sparring session. What we can take from this information is Mayweather plans on coming out of retirement soon to fight someone.
If Mayweather wants to increase his net worth considerably, him coming out of retirement to face Manny Pacquiao or Canelo Alvarez would be the way to go. That would be a great shot in the arm for the sport of boxing for Mayweather to fight those guys.
That’s good news. The bad news is Mayweather already informed the media that he’s coming back for “entertainment” fights against NON-boxers. In other words, Mayweather will be fighting MMA guys like we’ve been seeing from him since 2017.
In Mayweather’s two comeback fights since retiring in 2015, he’s beaten UFC star Conor McGregor and 20-year-old Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in boxing events.
The 5’9″ southpaw Douglin states that he sparred Mayweather for 40 minutes, and it was competitive. At times, the smaller Mayweather backed him up around the ring, and that was a shocker. Douglin says he was expecting Mayweather to be “old,” but he turned out to be a tough cookie.
Douglin (22-7, 14 KOs) isn’t one of the elite 168-pounders, so you have to take the praise that he pours over the head of Mayweather with a grain of salt. We’re talking about a fighter that recently lost to 39-year-old Mike Guy (12-5-1, 5 KOs) by an eight-round split decision last November.
Douglin isn’t in the same league as the top super middleweights like David Benavidez, Caleb Plant, Callum Smith, Canelo Alvarez, or Billy Joe Saunders.
Douglin was expecting Mayweather to be old
“I was expecting old-ass,” said Douglin on David Sparks’ Instragram Live of Mayweather. “His power’s still lit. He hit me with a good body shot, ‘I’m like, okay OG.’ I walk him down, but throughout the sparring I catch myself walking back and Floyd’s walking me down.
“I’m like, ‘What going on? Why’s this little guy walking me down?’
He’ll start countering my jab crazy, and he so fast, it makes me back up.“So now I’m backing up, trying to figure out what I’m going to throw, and now and he’s pressing me,” said Douglin of Mayweather. “Son really the GOAT to me, I really look up to him. Like 40 years old, just sparred me 40 minutes, that’s crazy.”
On social media, the casual boxing fans are going crazy at Mayweather sparring a super middleweight in Douglin for 40 minutes. What the fans don’t realize is Douglin is a journeyman with past losses to these fighters:
- Mike Guy – journeyman
- Anthony Dirrell
- David Benavidez
- George Groves
- Jose Angel Rodriguez
- Jermell Charlo
- Doel Carrasquillo (17-25) – journeyman
Let’s see Mayweather spar a talented 168-pound fighter like David Benavidez or Caleb Plant. That’s a whole different ball of wax for Mayweather than him sparring the 32-year-old journeyman Douglin.
It’s too bad that Mayweather isn’t planning on coming back to boxing because fans want to see him face Manny Pacquiao and Canelo Alvarez in rematches. Those risky fights for Mayweather, but he’d make big money.