Regarding the speculation over whom will occupy the opponent?s bracket for Floyd Mayweather Jr?s next, and supposedly final, professional appearance in September. Trainer Robert Garcia told Elie Seckbach of Esnewreporting.com what he thinks about the two names that have emerged as the surprise frontrunners for the position.
Mayweather improved his pristine record to 48-0 with 26KO?s in his last fight in May against long-time nemesis Manny Pacquiao. In a dominant display, he put to bed all doubts of his supremacy as the best of this generation. He had been in more difficult fights before, but none represented as much as the Pacquiao win did in cementing his position at the top of the heap. His claim to being ?TBE? or ?The Best Ever? becomes more believable with every win.
Naturally, all ears are perked to hear who will stand across from him in his final bout, and Mayweather himself proclaimed two very underwhelming options.
Andre Berto(30-3, 23KO?s) won out against Josesito Lopez in March to gain the WBA interim welterweight title and trains under the astute eye of Virgil Hunter. He rose to prominence in the late 2000?s as a powerful, athletic puncher, but a lack of defensive acuteness has seen him lose out in brutal affairs against Victor Ortiz, Robert Guerrero and Jesus Soto-Karass. The Karass fight was the last of which played the biggest part in turning Berto into a figure of derision. He is a dangerous yet heavily flawed fighter.
The alternative is Karim Mayfield(19-2, 11KO?s); a 34-year-old light-welterweight whose biggest win was over the oft-shortchanged Mauricio Herrera in 2012. His last win in November was a unanimous decision in an eight-rounder after two successive losses against Thomas Dulorme and Emmanuel Taylor. He is nowhere near the top of his division, let alone in the pound-for-pound discussion.
Both men are solid pros, but they are levels below what we have come to expect from a Mayweather opponent. Nobody has been clamouring to see them go up against the undefeated one, and neither has been setting the world alight in their current form.
