This used to be Floyd Mayweather Jr.?s week.
Cinco de Mayo weekend is looming, and that meant an appearance by boxing?s best performer. The first weekend in May was for ?Money,? and it would result in another win to keep his perfect record intact.
Mayweather, though, retired in September after defeating Andre Berto to boost his record to 49-0. And so while most in the boxing industry thought Mayweather would be the main attraction for the first card in the $375 million, 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena, that honor will go to Canelo Alvarez and Amir Khan, who will meet in the main event Saturday for Alvarez?s World Boxing Council middleweight title.
But has boxing seen the last of Mayweather? In an interview Saturday on Showtime during its telecast of the Badou Jack-Lucian Bute title fight, Mayweather said the subject has come up recently with the network.
?Every day, everyone is asking, ?Floyd, are you coming back??? Mayweather told Jim Gray. ?All I want to do is continue to build my company, Mayweather Promotions, and help these fighters become world champions like Badou Jack.?
Should Mayweather, 39, decide to fight again, he won?t come cheap.
?If I came back, of course, it would have to be a nine-figure payday and probably a championship fight,? he said.
It was a year ago Monday that Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao produced boxing?s biggest night, setting records for live gate ($72.2 million) and pay-per-view buys (4.4 million) and sales ($440 million), which generated close to $600 million in total revenue. Mayweather, who received 60 percent of all revenue, made about $350 million.
Pacquiao, who lost a unanimous decision to Mayweather that May 2 night at the MGM Grand Garden, also is retired. He left the sport after his unanimous decision victory against Timothy Bradley on April 9 at the Grand Garden.
But Pacquiao also has left the door open to returning. The two-term congressman said a loss in his attempt to be elected to the Philippine Senate would allow him to continue to fight.
Gray threw out some potential opponents during his interview with Mayweather, with middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin first and foremost.
?GGG, I think that it?s best that he goes up and fights Andre Ward,? Mayweather said. ?I think that?d be a good fight for GGG. Andre Ward, that?s a good matchup. How can Floyd Mayweather fight at 160 (pounds) when I could never even make 154??
When Gray suggested Danny Garcia, who recently won a welterweight title, Mayweather was a tad more receptive.
?Danny Garcia, another name. Undefeated prospect ? undefeated champion in two different weight classes,? he said. ?Very exciting fighter. You just never know.?
When Gray asked Mayweather about facing the winner of the June 25 fight between World Boxing Association welterweight champ Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter, he didn?t sound as enthusiastic.
?Thurman and Porter, both are exciting fighters,? Mayweather said. ?I like being on this side, but that?s a good matchup.?
Pacquiao?s name never came up in the interview. But a year ago, they did big business together, and the Alvarez-Khan fight will not come close to challenging the numbers Mayweather-Pacquiao produced. As of Monday, around 14,000 seats have been sold, and T-Mobile will be scaled back from 20,000 to 18,000.
The phrase ?scaled back? never would enter Mayweather?s lexicon. But perhaps Las Vegas will see T-Mobile at full capacity come mid-September during Mexican Independence Weekend, another date that was always the domain of Mayweather?s, in his return to the ring.
?Like I said, I?m happy being on this side,? said Mayweather the promoter. ?But you never know.?
