Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather is no stranger to hype.
It’s not like he has never posted a factually incorrect statement about himself or another fighter and proposed deals on his social media channels. In fact, he posted a live stream this year about a fight, but it turned out that he was paid two million dollars to mislead the public.
However, that doesn’t change the fact that he has recently come out and emphatically stated that he is returning to combat sports. Does that mean boxing? Well, I doubt it if it is a real top-ranked opponent. Is WWE consider a combat sport?
So what was said?
It was cryptic at best. After posting a picture of himself with Dana White at a Boston Celtics game, the captioned, ‘@danawhite and I working together again to bring the world another spectacular event in 2020’. Before that, he had simply stated, ‘Coming out of retirement in 2020.’ The picture that accompanied his announcement was of him with his hands wrapped and in boxing shorts. So it is assumed that he would be boxing again. But I’m not so sure. If it is Boxing, could he be planning on putting together a super fight against Manny Pac-Man Pacquiao? This is really the only fight that makes sense in my mind.
Canelo is in his prime and fighting better than ever. Terence Crawford, Shawn Porter, or Errol Spence Jr. – who is coming off a car accident anyhow and has an uncertain career ahead– are also not ideal for Mayweather at his age. Heck, even Pacquiao’s long-time trainer stated that Pac-Man absolutely should not fight Errol Spence or Terence Crawford. He thought that it could result in Pac-Man taking permanent damage, especially after the bashings the Philipino former champ has taken in his last couple of fights. A fight against Mayweather makes sense for him. Mayweather is crisp but defensive and his punches are not nearly as hard as they used to be. Not because he can’t throw hard punches, but because he pulls them due to his – as McGregor once said– brittle, old hands.
Terence Crawford just came out and stated that Manny Pacquiao ran from him and didn’t want to fight him. And in my opinion, rightfully so. Terence Crawford is in his prime and is one of the most instinctual fighters ever. So, for a 40-year-old and 40-year-old-plus fighter, it just isn’t wise. Especially for Mayweather who has a 50-0 record on the line. He doesn’t want to take a fight where defeat is likely. And for Manny, who doesn’t have the defensive skills of Floyd, he doesn’t want to take a fight where he gets pummeled in the dome, over and over and over and ends up with CTE or brain damage.
Fighting each other is more age-appropriate. And it would be a worthy fight for both fighters. Pac-Man has kept the rust off by staying in the ring. And he wouldn’t be at risk concussion against Mayweather. For Mayweather, it would be a fight that people couldn’t say is a tune-up or weak fight, it freaking Pacquiao who has the heart of a lion and will bring 100 percent. Mayweather has already fought him and thus, already has a game plan and could train-up for him after being out of the ring for a couple of years. And more than anything, it would be a ‘Big Money’ fight, something fans want to see. The Asian market would come out of the woodwork to see the chance of Pac-Man getting revenge on the hated-by-many Mayweather.
There has also seemed to be a revival in the rivalry between the two throughout 2019. So, if I had my guess, this is the route I think that Money Mayweather would take, but where does Dana White come in? Could it be another McGregor matchup? Whoever it is, of course, there are odds on it. But what I’m still hung up on the Dana White thing. Mayweather doesn’t need a joint promotion with Dana White to fight Pac-Man. Or is White buying in to help legitimize his Zuffa Boxing brand?
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.