COMMENTARY | With reports that a second Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley bout could be officially announced as soon as Friday, it seems odd that Floyd Mayweather has yet to even acknowledge the preliminary pursuit of his next opponent.
Scheduled for May 3 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Mayweather’s return to the ring is etched in stone, but the opponent for the five-division world champ remains a mystery.
Obscured by rumor and a once again revived Mayweather-Pacquiao false storyline, fans and media are no closer to finding out who’s next for Mayweather than they were back when Mayweather schooled 23-year-old “Canelo” Alvarez on September 14 of last year.
Former junior welterweight titlist Amir Khan has found himself the top candidate for the Mayweather opponent slot, first through an unsubstantiated rumor in a British publication and then again, weeks later, when the pool of viable, available opposition for Mayweather began to grow more and more shallow. In between both waves of Khan rumors, Mayweather advisor, Leonard Ellerbe as well as Mayweather, himself, have denied that Khan was signed to be next.
Now, though, time constraints caused by pointless procrastination from Team Mayweather are making it so that Khan, indeed, may be the only reasonable opponent for Mayweather. With just over a week left in January to promote a May 3 bout, Team Mayweather may now be at the point where only a “name” opponent with a solid built-in fan base, like the UK’s Khan, can be chosen.
At this rate, even if Mayweather announces his next opponent by the end of this weekend, a promotional tour couldn’t be kicked off until the first or second week of February, at the earliest.
The situation is similar to last year when Mayweather didn’t announce his May 4 fight with Robert Guerrero until past the midway point in February, resulting in an abbreviated press tour that, arguably, played a part in the comparatively poor pay-per-view numbers generated by the event (reportedly between 800K and one million).
The September 14 Mayweather-Saul Alvarez card, on the other hand, was announced in late May, giving Golden Boy and Mayweather Promotions time to plan an extensive multi-city press tour and publicity campaign. Mayweather-Alvarez would go on to reportedly generate around 2.2 million buys and become the biggest money generator in boxing history. To be fair, much of the PPV success of Mayweather-Alvarez was due to the fact that it appeared to be a superior match-up to Mayweather-Guerrero with a quality undercard thrown in for good measure. Still, there’s no denying that week after week of media exposure helped the promotion immeasurably and primed fans for the purchase.
The pattern is repeating itself in 2014 as Team Mayweather is once again dragging its feet in making the decision about who to face next. And as time passes, the ability to promote the fight also gets more difficult.
Rumors have junior welterweight kingpin Danny Garcia, a reasonable opponent choice for Mayweather, already looking elsewhere for a March ring date. After Garcia, the list of available opposition is small and growing even smaller as time passes.
Very soon, Mayweather will have no choice but to fight the biggest name rather than the best name on the list of possible opponents.
Time is on Amir Khan’s side as Mayweather will increasingly need someone who can meet him at least a quarter of the way when it comes to selling a pay-per-view event.
Unfortunately, the unfounded rumor of a horribly undeserving Khan pitted against Mayweather may turn out to be reality.
