Floyd Mayweather Jr fought for the first time in 16 months last night, scoring a controversial but legal knockout of Victor Ortiz in four rounds. Now there are two questions: Who’s next, and when will we see Floyd back in the ring?
Mayweather sounds like he’ll be in no rush, according to BoxingScene.com:
“I move when I want to move. I fight when I want to fight. That’s the great thing about being my own boss. … Since I gave the sport so many great fights, is it okay for me to take 16 months off to spend time with family? That’s all I ask.”
Will he take 16 months off again? Maybe, but maybe not. Since his first “superfight” against Oscar De La Hoya in 2007, this has been Mayweather’s schedule: May 2007 against Oscar, December 2007 against Ricky Hatton, September 2009 against Juan Manuel Marquez, May 2010 against Shane Mosley, and September 2011 against Victor Ortiz.
His quickest turnaround has been the Hatton fight following Oscar, seven months apart. He took eight months between Marquez and Mosley. But he stayed out for 21 months between Hatton and Marquez, and 16 between Mosley and Ortiz.
At 34 with chronic hand problems, Mayweather is never going to keep a regular schedule again. Probably not even a “two fights a year” regular schedule like Manny Pacquiao has these days.
If Mayweather fights in 2012, there are probably three guys in the running right now, plus a wild card.
Manny Pacquiao
This is the fight everyone wants, of course. Pacquiao fights Juan Manuel Marquez on November 12, but is a big favorite. Still, it doesn’t seem like either side — Mayweather or Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum — are banking on this actually happening. And it’s probably not going to happen. That’s just the reality. Mayweather has really not mentioned Pacquiao very much since the New York press conference for the Ortiz fight, when he said, “Do I want the Pacquiao fight? Absolutely. Absolutely. If that?s what the fans want, that?s what I want to give the fans. But it takes one step at a time.”
