Now that World Boxing Council welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (39-0, 25 KOs) has gotten by the business of beating to consecutive easy gimme fights, I think it’s high time that he start facing real challenges in his career rather than the same easy set up fights that we’ve been used to seeing from him for most of his career. One fighter out of all the welterweights jumps out at you when one thinks of the welterweight division, and that’s undefeated World Boxing Organization champion Paul Williams (33-0, 24 KOs), who is arguably the best fighter in not only the welterweight division but in all of boxing.
Floyd Mayweather Jr
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“He’s (Mayweather) Afraid To Lose” – Bob Arum
In the latest boxing news, World Boxing Council welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. has recently stated that he plans on competing in the MMA, and will perhaps be signing on with his billionaire friend, Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team and HFNet Fights, a MMA promotional company.
Mayweather To Fight In MMA?
Perhaps in a sign of overreach on Floyd Mayweather Jr’s part, he is considering moving to compete in MMA fights, according to the latest boxing news from ESPN. Apparently, Mayweather, now 30, is in discussions with billionaire Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, among other things. Mayweather met up with Cuban while on the “Dancing with The Stars” show and the two became quick friends. Cuban also owns the HDNet Fights, a MMA promotional company, which has it’s fights shown on HDNet, owned by Cuban. By signing on Mayweather, Cuban would be getting a huge boost for his company, even if Mayweather never amounts to anything in the sport.
For Mayweather to take on such a venture, he would likely be looking to get paid in the tens of millions, as he is risking a lot by competing in a sport of this nature. Much of the fighting in MMA involves wrestling and submission holds, the type of skills that take a considerable amount of time to learn.
Hatton Mayweather Generates 850,000 PPV Buys
By now it must be obvious that the Ricky Hatton – Floyd Mayweather bout was an incredibly popular bout with the boxing public, but even more shocking are the final PPV numbers, which came out to over 850,000 buys in the United States, including $47 million in TV revenue, according to ESPN. Not bad for a fight that was a mismatch the minute the contract was signed for the bout. However, as good as the numbers were, they paled in comparison to the numbers for the Oscar De La Hoya bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr., which generated 2.4 million PPV buys and $134 million.
That bout had a tremendous advantage over Hatton-Mayweather, simply because of De La Hoya’s huge following among both Latin and Caucasian fans. In contrast, Hatton, a British fighter, is still largely unknown to many American fans, many of whom were hearing him of him for the first time in his bout with Mayweather. Regrettably, due to Hatton’s poor performance against Mayweather, it’s not likely he picked up many fans among the Americans, unless you count fans that felt sympathy for him.
Mayweather Not Interested In Cotto
In the latest boxing news, World Boxing Council welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (39-0, 25 KOs) said to Franklin McNeil of the New Jersey Star-Ledger, “He (Miguel Cotto) knows he can’t beat me. He knows. Cotto’s remedy to beat me is pressure, pressure, pressure. That’s not the remedy to beat me.” Apparently, Mayweather, 30, is more interested in taking 2008 off to pursue his other interests, such as boxing promotion, music and film.
However, there are people in the boxing community that see Mayweather’s actions – or lack there of – spurred mostly because of his fear of being beaten, and hence risking his reputation as the pound-4-pound number one fighter in boxing. To be sure, Mayweather has carefully selected the vast majority of his opponents since 2003, somehow avoiding the best fighters in the division, yet the public appears none the wiser for his actions. In saying that he’ll be focusing on his other interests, Mayweather has a ready made excuse to avoid Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Paul Williams and Kermit Cintron, the top fighters in the welterweight division and the ones that Mayweather should have been fighting the past couple of years if he was serious about wanting to fight the best.
“I Don’t Think he (Hatton) Should Fight Again” – Floyd Mayweather Jr.
According to a report from Dan Rafael of ESPN, undefeated World Boxing Council welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (39-0, 25 KOs) recommends that Ricky Hatton not fight again, stating “I hope Ricky Hatton is able get to through this one. This is tough on him and his family. I know he’s been through a lot of wars. I don’t think he should fight again. A fight of this magnitude can really tear you down mentally and physically. The wars, like his fight with Kostya Tszyu and me, eventually catch up to you like they did with Fernando Vargas and Erik Morales.”
Floyd Mayweather Jr: Who Should He Fight Next?
Moments after Floyd Mayweather’s 10-round destruction of Ricky Hatton last Saturday night, Mayweather commented that he wouldn’t allow boxing to retire him, that he would retire from boxing. However, knowing that Mayweather is often making threats of retiring from boxing but never actually carrying them out, I thought it would be interesting to discuss who Mayweather will likely be facing in the near future. Though, quite frankly, he’s not in need of money after having made $50 million in 2007 alone with his huge mega fights victories over Hatton and Oscar De La Hoya.
Mayweather Hatton In Heated Confrontation In Final Press Conference
In the final press conference which took place yesterday, both Floyd Mayweather and Ricky Hatton got into a brief shoving contest after being asked to stand face to face with each other. Like in previous occasions, Mayweather, 30, used the opportunity to talk to Hatton and try to intimidate him. After a minute or two, Mayweather appeared to bump Hatton with his chest, at which point Hatton bumped him back, causing Mayweather to go wild, shouting “Don’t touch me, don’t touch me.” Both fighters were then pulled apart, with Mayweather seeming incredibly angry like he wanted to get at Hatton.
Mayweather Hatton: Is Floyd A Troubled Person?
As the days draw nearer to the fight, both Ricky Hatton and Floyd Mayweather Jr. seem to have accelerated the insults that they’ve been throwing at each other, almost as if that’s a contest all in itself. Each time I think that Mayweather has it won, Hatton throws a perfect insult which seems to get under Mayweather’s skin far more than the comments he’s making daily about Hatton.
Mayweather: “The only reason Hatton is 43 and zero is because he hasn’t fought anyone”
After a day in which Floyd Mayweather complained bitterly about being a nice guy, he fell back into his old way of acting today when he blasted Hatton, saying “The only reason Hatton is 43 and zero is because he hasn’t fought anyone”. He hasn’t fought 43 Floyd Mayweathers because if he had, he’d be zero and 43.” Mayweather, of course, was referring to Hatton’s 43-0 record, which Mayweather feels are meaningless because they were against less than talented fighters. Perhaps a mutual opponent that most of all sticks in his craw, however, is Jose Luis Castillo, who Mayweather struggled to beat on two occasions.