Floyd Mayweather next opponent: Mayweather more likely to pick a former foe than a fresh contender like Amir Khan in Las Vegas lottery
COMMENT: Khan and Brook must figure on Mayweather's radar. Khan, I'm convinced, will miss out
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Your support makes all the difference.The men waiting to get their hands on some of Floyd Mayweather’s money formed the only orderly queue on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
At ringside Amir Khan had his cap out, a kid called Danny Garcia was in the vicinity, a man named Terence Crawford is possibly reaching his best just too late and another choice, Gennady Golovkin, is simply 4lb too heavy.
Mayweather has toyed with the latest quartet of contenders and dozens of others during his career and insists that his opponents win the Mayweather lottery when he picks their names out of a hat. The news he is ditching his world titles, which in theory come with mandatory defence clauses, means he can select any fighter he wants for his planned September fight.
“I’m just going to enjoy my victory for a little bit and then move on, fight again in September, make somebody rich – it’s all about the money,” said Mayweather. On Saturday he made a lot of people rich, make no mistake, and early indications of pay-per-view sales in America suggest he will earn as much as $200m (£132m) and Manny Pacquiao will pocket in excess of $120m. One nightclub inside the cavernous MGM took $1m in the fight’s aftermath.
Every active fighter above 10st and below 12st has a plan to fight Mayweather, a desire based on the golden pot. Last year Bernard Hopkins, who fights at 12st 7lb, offered to drop a pound each month for 14 months and fight Mayweather at catchweight. It was declined but Hopkins, who was in Las Vegas on media duty, is still taking a long look at the kid. “I was serious about fighting him,” he said. Hopkins is 50, by the way.
Khan, Garcia, Crawford, an overlooked fighter called Tim Bradley, who sneaked a controversial decision over Pacquiao in 2012, world champion Keith Thurman and even Sheffield’s Kell Brook must all figure on Mayweather’s radar. Khan, I’m convinced, will miss out. “Floyd and his people are boxing people and they know Amir is wrong, wrong for them,” said Virgil Hunter, who trains Khan.
There is also a back catalogue of boxers Mayweather has already defeated, but they could quite easily, thanks to their winning form, get another chance in the ring.
This Saturday in Houston an exceptional fighter, Saul Alvarez, faces James Kirkland, who was himself on a shortlist for Mayweather two years ago. Alvarez is only 24 and has lost just once in 46 fights, in 2013 when he was given a lesson by Mayweather. On paper the fight was a test, Alvarez had everything to unsettle Mayweather, including size, but he was reduced to lunges. One judge scored it a draw and now Alvarez is the No 1 fighter in the world at light-middle, which is 11st, just 7lb above Mayweather’s optimum fighting weight; Alvarez and Mayweather could fight at 10st 10lb or 11lb.
“I was young then, I made mistakes,” said Alvarez, who would still deliver an enormous audience and more of a genuine threat next if he was selected. “I know now how to beat Floyd – I want another chance.” It is thought that Alvarez cleared $12m for the fight, which held all of the financial records before Saturday’s encounter. Alvarez has to be considered a good bet for Mayweather’s 50th and final fight next year and only an outside punt for September.
And then there is Miguel Cotto, the pride of all Puerto Rico, and the man who came very close to solving some of the Mayweather puzzles when they fought in 2012. Cotto lost, but he left the ring talking about the next time and convinced that after 12 rounds he knew exactly how to beat Mayweather. Since the loss Cotto has moved up from welterweight to middleweight and won the world title, which he defends in New York in June.
The final selection for September’s fight will not be announced until late July and the venue is expected to be once again the MGM, where Saturday’s odd crowd booed Mayweather even in victory. Before I left I met with Gene Kilroy, for 30 years an executive host at the MGM and other casinos, who was for 25 years Muhammad Ali’s business manager; I asked him about the crowd’s reaction to the city’s cash cow.
“He don’t give a shit,” said Kilroy, who is now an independent consultant at the MGM. “If they booed Muhammad like that, he’d leave the country.” I doubt Mayweather will even leave Las Vegas – I doubt they will let him.
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