By Sean Jones: Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be back in the ring for a couple of exhibition matches overseasons. Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) is calling them “little exhibitions.” Mayweather revealed the news of his exhibition fights to former two-division world champion Zab Judah on Tuesday.
Mayweather can tarnish his career if he loses his exhibition matches, so he’ll need to choose wisely. Whoever is going to pay Mayweather for his exhibition matches, they’re going to expect a decent opponent.
If Mayweather is going to try and sell his exhibition on pay-per-view during the pandemic, you got to wish him a lot of luck. People don’t have money to throw away on watching Mayweather beat some poor sap that’s brought in for him to look good against.
Floyd has been training in his gym in Las Vegas, and recently sparred with super middleweight Denis Douglin.
Mayweather isn’t saying how much he’ll be paid for his exhibition matches overseas. It’s hard to imagine someone paying the inactive Mayweather a considerable amount of money for an exhibition match because he’s not been fighting.
Mayweather talks exhibition matches
“I’ve got a couple of exhibitions I’m doing. You know me, I’m doing a couple of little exhibitions overseasons. They’re good-paying though,” said Mayweather in revealing his plans to Zab Juda on social media.
It’s been two years since Mayweather last fought in beating Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa by a 1st round knockout in an exhibition match in Saitama, Japan. Floyd was paid $9 million for that fight.
Mayweather’s best chance for an easy payday for a big-money fight would be to lure Conor McGregor out of retirement.
On Monday, Mayweather reacted to McGregor retiring by saying this:
“If you decide to come back, I will be waiting to punish you again.”
Floyd let McGregor and the fans know that he wants to fight Conor again, but there’s no word from the former two-division UFC champion if he’ll come out of retirement for a rematch. Mayweather beat McGregor by a 10th round knockout in 2017.
If Mayweather wants to make big money, he’ll need to make a comeback against an elite fighter. The only guys that Mayweather can make a lot of money fighting are these fighters: Manny Pacquiao, Errol Spence, Keith Thurman, Canelo Alvarez, and Terence Crawford.
Most boxing fan doubt Mayweather will return to the ring against any of the relevant fighters because he’s worked so hard to put together his 50-0 record.
Earlier in Mayweather’s career, it was easy for him to avoid defeats because he was so good. But when Mayweather got older, that’s when he became careful about the fighters he selected.
So instead of facing Spence, Crawford, and Thurman, Mayweather spent the last years of his pro career fighting the likes of Marcos Maidana, Robert Guerrero, Andre Berto, and Victor Ortiz.
Floyd fought Judah in 2006
Mayweather has history for Judah in having beaten him by a 12 round unanimous decision in April 2006 in Las Vegas. Those two fought for the vacant IBF welterweight title, and Mayweather had too much for Judah.
The 42-year-old Zab (44-10, 30 KOs) fought last year in losing by an 11th round knockout to Cletus Seldin.
