Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Unbeaten and retiring American boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. is expected to announce very soon, possibly this week, his foe for his September 12 bout. The match is his last, based on Mayweather's previous announcements that his commitment with Showtime was six fights.
Among the names of boxers that have cropped up as his last opponent are welterweight boxers Amir Khan and Andre Berto.
His "Fight of the Century" bout against Filipino champ Manny Pacquiao on May 2 broke records for payouts for Mayweather and Pacquiao, landing the two on the top two spots of Forbes's list of highest-paid celebrities in the last 12 months. Sportingnews reports that the bout made 4.4 million pay-per-view buys and also broke records.
As a result, Mayweather's total income from that one bout alone was estimated at $235 million, while it was $160 million for Pacquiao.
Since Mayweather's last fight is with Showtime which is owned by CBS, the website raises the possibility that the last hurrah of "Money May" for his final professional fight could be broadcast for free on CBS. It also points out the difficulty of topping the May 2 PPV buys which generated a lot of negative feedback that it believes few people would still purchase PPV shows that feature Mayweather whom many boxing fans witnessed ran around the ring only.
In the May 2 fight, Filipino fans of Pacquiao got free live broadcast of the bout through the three largest private broadcast companies in the Philippines. SportingNews writes that broadcasting Mayweather's last fight for free would be a great farewell bout for Mayweather and help give the boxer as positive spin given the "boos" he got during the bout and WBO's recent stripping of his welterweight title for failing to pay a $200,000 sanctioning fee.
While there are no specific details on Mayweather's final bout, Showtime Sports Executive Vice President Stephen Espinoza said that "The only thing that Mayweather made clear to all of us is he wants his last fight to be very special and unique," quotes Reviewjournal.
Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe adds that all options are undergoing evaluation. He said that Mayweather, Al Haymon - the boxer's adviser - and himself had discussed several scenarios for Money May's last bout and Floyd has not yet come to a decision.
