By Craig Daly: Floyd Mayweather is in talks for an exhibition fight against Mikey Garcia for December 9th on Showtime PPV. Floyd has chosen the same date as the Regis Prograis vs. Devin Haney event on DAZN Pay-per-view.
This means fans must choose between the two events unless they purchase both. Most fans won’t want to shell out $100+. It’s unfair to the Haney-Prograis card that he would have to compete with Mayweather.
This is about building for the future, as the 24-year-old Devin is a fighter who could be a superstar soon, and it’s not good that he won’t have as many fans tuning in to see him due to Floyd’s potential event.
The undercard of Mayweather-Mikey is these two fights:
- Keith Thurman vs. Eimantas Stanionis
- Danny Garcia vs. Erislandy Lara
According to Chris Algieri, Mayweather has a whiskey, ‘Good Money Whiskey,‘ that he wants to use the December 9th exhibition event market to the public.
Floyd reportedly has a net worth estimated at $400 million, so he doesn’t need to add to his huge fortune.
The former four-division world champion Mikey Garcia retired just two years ago, and he’s still young at 35. If this were a real fight, you’d have to favor him over
Is Mayweather marketing a new product?
“Floyd is really doing this to sell his whiskey if you really think about it. He posts out that he’s making a whiskey. ‘Hey, look at me. I’m making Big Money Whiskey. Guess what? I’m also fighting in December. You guys got to check it out.’ It’s marketing 101. Floyd is a very smart guy,” said Chris Algieri to ProBox TV about Floyd Mayweather Jr. reportedly fighting an exhibition match against Mikey Garcia on December 9th on Showtime pay-per-view on the same night as Devin Haney vs. Regis Prograis on DAZN PPV.
“He did this with the strip club too. Right around the time of the [Conor] McGregor [fight in 2017],” said Paulie Malignaggi.
This would be pathetic if the sole reason that Mayweather has chosen to fight on December 9th is so that he can market the new whiskey that he wants to peddle to the public.
It’s one thing competing for the sake of the sport, but if you’re just using the occasion to announce your new whiskey product to the fans, that’s beyond the pale.
“Anytime he has something to sell, he steps back in the ring in an exhibition against some no-hoper and makes however much money. But listen, it’s free marketing,” said Algieri. “He’s paying himself. Floyd’s a business. He’s not a businessman. He is a business.
“I heard that every time that Floyd would fight in Las Vegas, the town would make a billion dollars. That’s a business, not a businessman. Floyd is more than just a single man, and that’s the problem. He’s not looking out for the next generation, and he’s actually going to be taking away from these younger guys.
“That Prograis card is a good card. It’s in San Francisco. It’s got a decent undercard with Montana Love coming back. Come on, I don’t like the head-to-head [with the Prograis vs. Haney event on DAZN PPV on the same night], especially when it’s like a different sport when you do the exhibition stuff,” said Algieri.
The Haney-Prograis undercard:
- Liam Paro vs. Montana Love
- Andy Cruz vs. Hector Tanajara
- Ebanie Bridges vs. Avril Mathie
- Beatriz Ferreira vs. Destiny Jones
Mikey Garcia = Floyd’s opponent
“Mikey Garcia, why are you coming back? You didn’t like fighting when you were fighting,” said Algieri. “He used to complain all the time about training and fighting. What is he doing back? It’s unfortunate that boxing can’t come up together. This is just another one of those opportunities for boxing to shoot itself in the foot.”
Despite having loads of talent, Mikey retired from boxing two years ago after his loss to Sandor Martin. Before that fight, Mikey had been inactive for a year and a half.
You have to question how motivated he was to continue fighting, even though he hadn’t made the huge money that he could have if he’d stayed active. Even during Mikey’s best years, he wasn’t a really busy fighter.
“The head-to-head, it doesn’t make sense. It’s stupid, especially because it’s Floyd. Floyd Mayweather’s name has a completely different pull than anyone else. It doesn’t matter how long he’s retired.
“If he decides he’s going to step back in the ring, people are going to tune in, and if people don’t have enough money to watch, both are going to pick one or the other, and a lot of people are going to pick Floyd, and it’s going to pull away from those young champions,” said Algieri.
There will be boxing fans that will tune in the see Mayweather, but what could bring in even more people to that event is the addition of Keith Thurman vs. Eimanatas Stanionis & Danny Garcia vs. Erislandy Lara undercard fights. Those guys are still active, more or less.
Taking away from younger generation
“A guy like Prograis, who isn’t young, but he hasn’t gotten the shine that he probably deserves, and then you got like Devin Haney, who has been around Floyd since he was nine years old,” said Algieri.
“He is getting a big shot in one of the biggest fights of his career right and is really putting everything on the line in a headliner against a dangerous guy.”
It’s not a good deal for Haney & Prograis that they have Mayweather fighting on the same night over on Showtime because there will be a fair amount of people that will choose to watch his event because he used to be the biggest star in the sport until retiring after his big payday against Conor McGregor in 2017.
“It’s silly, and you’re taking away from the younger generation. Fighters are individuals. They’re self-centered, and a lot of them are not going to work team-wise with other guys or try and build anyone else up, and this is just another example of that. Floyd is is is out for Floyd,” said Algieri.
“First off, I don’t like that it’s against the Haney-Prograis fight because I think a Haney-Prograis fight could be a good fight for boxing,” said Paulie Malignaggi about Mayweather competing with that card.
“It’s a nice fight, and it’s a fight boxing fans are looking forward to. So I don’t like when those fights start to compete against one another, especially somebody like Floyd, who’s kind of already out of the business.
“Now he’s going to put a show together. We’re talking about Thurman and [Danny Garcia possibly being the co-feature, which, again, is two still relevant guys. Maybe they’re a little bit on the other side of their prime. They’re still relevant, and all of a sudden, now you’re forcing fight fans to split up,” said Paulie.
Mayweather could have picked a different day
“I hate when that happens. Having said that, Mayweather is a money guy,” said Malignaggi. “Yes, he’s a money guy, and he knows how to sell himself; he knows how to sell the exhibitions. He came out with whiskey as well. It’s some kind of ‘Money’ name. It has ‘Money Whiskey’ or something like that.
“If you check his Instagram, he’s got ‘Good Money whiskey. Everything Floyd is about is branded around money, so, of course, he’s going to name it ‘Good Money Whiskey.’ Plus, it seems like Floyd and [Conor] McGregor are always going at each other in one way or another.
“Conor made a good whiskey. So we’ll see if Floyd makes a good whiskey. We’ll see how that one goes. He’s always involved, but it’s more about Floyd than anything else, and at a certain point, you have to give back to the sport that gave to you. Is he really doing that? I don’t know. I sometimes question that because you’re going on the same night as Haney-Prograis, which
is a legitimately good fight.
“Haney is a young fighter and could be a star in boxing. He could be a guy who people start to pay attention to a little bit, and Prograis, who’s been a good world champion in his own right.
“So it’s a good fight, and you’re kind of still taking way because you’re trying to still keep that camera and the light on you, which I get it. I get the whole ego thing, I get the whole money thing. I get it, but you could have probably picked a different day.
“There are people that come after us that are still going to try to apply their trade and have and live their dreams through the sport, and we want to give them that platform to still be able to do it,” said Malignaggi.
