Lots of Options for Victorious Mayweather
| 10
|
by user KMcRae
Fresh off his split decision verdict over Oscar De La Hoya, new WBC Jr. Middleweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. has plenty of lucrative options on the table. Immediately following the fight the Pretty Boy told Larry Merchant that he intended to go through on his pledge to retire after the bout with De La Hoya. If you believe that one then I have a beautiful bridge in Brooklyn that's price to go.
Mayweather earned at least ten million dollars for last night's bout, not including a penny yet from the PPV buys, and has plenty of potential big-money fights still out there. But while Floyd may have won the fight on the cards he did little to overcome his main limitation as a fighter. He simply cannot draw or sell a fight on his own. Oscar De La Hoya's post-fight comments were spot on. Without the older, less-skilled fighter coming forward and pressing the action there would've been no action. Mayweather's defense-first, take no chances, throw one punch at a time while moving backwards style may have been effective enough to convince two judges but not the crowd and not most boxing fans. All that said let's take a look at some potential future opponents for the Pretty Boy:
Oscar De La Hoya : A rematch between these two is certainly a possibility. It'll all come down to money like everything else. The PPV numbers should be out this week and they'll be phenomenal. Both guys made a ton of money on this one and it drew in the casual boxing fan and even many non-boxing sports fans. For all he's done for this sport DLH certainly deserves a rematch if he wants one and I'm sure Floyd would grant it. But will the public buy it up a second time? My hunch says no.
Shane Mosley : Oscar's stablemate and one of the few fighters who might be able to close the gap on Floyd's speed. Sugar Shane has looked very good in his last three fights against Fernando Vargas and the rugged up and comer Luis Collazo. He also spent the last several months in De La Hoya's training camp breaking down tape of Mayweather and serving as Oscar's principal sparring partner. But Sugar Shane will be 36 in August so this fight will need to be made soon. Also Floyd has already stated he has no desire to face him. In my view this is the fight boxing fans want to see.
Miguel Cotto: Cotto should dispense with Zab Judah in June at MSG and then move on to bigger and better things. His all pressure style and power will mean one of two things against a fighter with the speed and defense of Mayweather. Either Cotto's power and style will allow him to get on the inside and bully Mayweather or he'll get picked apart from the outside. This fight would have to take place at welterweight because I see no way Cotto moves up.
Ricky Hatton: This one is a longshot. Hatton's one foray into the welterweight decision resulted in a tougher than expected fight against Luis Collazo which many observers felt was a gift for the Brit. Hatton faces the still dangerous and very rugged Jose Luis Castillo on June 23 at 140 pounds and is unlikely to move back up.
Cory Spinks: Spinks is the current IBF Jr. Middleweight champion and will be stepping up to middleweight to challenge Jermain Taylor for the undisputed title on May 19th. Cory is a skilled boxer with great speed and defense but I just see Taylor being a little too big. A fight with Mayweather at 154 would be a matchup of two tremendous defensive fighters but it'd not be appealing to the eyes.
Smart-money says that it'll either be a rematch with DLH or a fight with Mosley sometime around December or early next year. Floyd is a businessman and he's not gonna be able to turn down the type of money he'd get for those two fights.
