Love him or hate him, the mere mention of Floyd Mayweather’s name elicits a strong reaction from boxing fans. His mainstream profile has also grown bigger than any other fighter’s because of a run on the popular reality series “Dancing With the Stars,” a heavily hyped wrestling appearance at last year’s WrestleMania, not to mention starring in a ubiquitous AT&T commercial that seems to be on television every 10 seconds.
But after 17 months out the ring in a retirement virtually nobody thought would last, the former five-division champion indeed finally announced his comeback earlier this month.
On July 18 (HBO PPV) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Mayweather (39-0, 25 KOs) will face lightweight champ Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4-1, 37 KOs), the pound-for-pound star who will jump two divisions for the fight at a maximum weight of 144 pounds, nine more than where Marquez is champion.
“I’m not overlooking Juan Manuel Marquez, and I hope he’s not overlooking me,” Mayweather said. “He knows I’ve been off awhile so he might think I’m rusty, but I’m not. I’ll be ready.”
When Mayweather walked away, he was on top of the sport, the universal choice as pound-for-pound king and the reigning welterweight champion. His final two fights in 2007 against Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton generated a staggering 3.4 million pay-per-view buys in the United States.
Now, Mayweather says he is back to reclaim the mantle of No. 1 that Manny Pacquiao now holds, even though, as Mayweather says, he never lost his status in the ring.
“One day, somebody may shut my mouth. As of right now, I’m the top dog,” Mayweather said. “I’m the king. I’m here to stay. I left on top, came back on top. I’m here to fight and reclaim what’s mine. Nobody has ever took my throne. So how am I not the king if nobody ever took my throne?”
With his impending ring return, Mayweather, who is in London with Marquez wrapping up this week’s six-day, three-city, two-country media tour to promote the fight, brings an avalanche of publicity to boxing.
“He crossed over to being a mainstream star,” said Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather’s close friend and adviser and CEO of Mayweather Promotions, which is working with Golden Boy on the fight. “He will bring more fans to the sport and overall that will uplift the sport.”
Mayweather certainly injects a jolt into the sport like no other and he’s more than happy to tell you all about it. Floyd Mayweather
CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images
Floyd Mayweather and Co. believe that when it comes to the biggest fights in boxing, all roads lead through them.
“When you talk boxing, you talk Floyd Mayweather,” he said. “I’m back because the sport of boxing needs Floyd Mayweather. The sport truly needs me and the fans really want me. Wherever I go, they go crazy. I’m the most controversy in the sport.”
If you buy the rap, the good news for boxing is that Mayweather is back for the long haul. A source with direct knowledge of his deal with Golden Boy Promotions told ESPN.com that Mayweather’s deal is for five fights.
That ought to give him ample time to face boxing’s biggest names, including an eventual showdown with Pacquiao, the fight the public is already demanding. If Mayweather gets past Marquez, which he is expected to do as a 3-1 favorite against the smaller man, there are several potential megafights for him: Pacquiao, Shane Mosley and Miguel Cotto among them.
So what about it, Floyd?
“The thing you got to realize about Floyd Mayweather is I don’t need to call out no fighters,” he said, making it clear that he thought Marquez deserved to win both of his controversial fights with Pacquiao [a draw and split decision].
Ellerbe made Mayweather’s plans after Marquez a bit more clear.
“I can tell you this right now that we’re gonna line all these guys up, whoever the so-called best guys are, whoever they say they, and we’ll line up,” he said. “Obviously, he can’t fight them all in one night. But one by one, so whoever it is. He left the best, he’s coming back the best. All roads lead to Floyd Mayweather.”
Besides Pacquiao and Cotto, difficult bouts to make because of Mayweather’s terrible relationship with Top Rank’s Bob Arum, his former promoter, there is also Mosley.
“Mosley had a good win with [Antonio] Margarito,” Ellerbe said. “We can’t fight him right now, but he’s one of the top fighters. We recognize he’s one of the top fighters. He can get it too.”
The time off was something Mayweather said he needed after several major fights in a row. He said he returned because he missed boxing. He also undoubtedly returned for the money, even though he doesn’t want to acknowledge the millions he owes to the IRS.
“Floyd truly needed a break away from the sport and he had to realize that he missed the sport,” Ellerbe said. “I think by him taking the time off and doing some other business ventures, he realized it. He’s well rested.”
Said Mayweather, flashing his million-dollar smile, about his return: “Somebody got to keep the sport up and running, so why not me?” Adamek-Hopkins revisited?
When a proposed July fight between cruiserweight champ Tomasz Adamek and Bernard Hopkins fizzled because vast differences in each side’s expectations, it left neither fighter with anything significant on the horizon. That realization may lead to the fight being resurrected, although not for this summer.
HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg told ESPN.com that the fight is back on the radar. Adamek
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Bernard Hopkins might get a crack at Tomasz Adamek, right, after all.
“I think it’s a good fight and we’ve talked a little about it,” he said.
If it comes back together, HBO would prefer it happen in early 2010 given an already tight budget for the rest of 2009.
When the prospect of the fight in July died a few weeks ago, it left Hopkins with nothing in the works. Adamek, meanwhile, is scheduled to fight July 10 in Newark, N.J., but without a commitment from an American broadcaster.
Showtime and Main Events talked about Adamek-Matt Godfrey, but the network elected to pass on the “ShoBox” fight on Thursday.
According to Main Events, Adamek will still fight July 10 but without U.S. television. But because there is now less money in the pot, it means a further downgrade in opponent, possibly to club fighter Bobby Gunn.
Adamek and Hopkins seem to need each other at this point to produce their biggest payday.
Adamek and Hopkins seem to need each other at this point to produce their biggest payday. Arreola gets serious
Cris Arreola (27-0, 24 KOs), perhaps America’s top heavyweight contender, has been roundly criticized over the past year for his conditioning. After regularly weighing in the 230s for fights in 2007 and prior, he put on about 20 pounds — and it’s not muscle. He’s been above 250 for his past three fights and was a flabby 255 for his last bout on April 11, when he recorded a dominant fourth-round knockout of Jameel McCline.
Despite the ease of the victory, Arreola intends to take his conditioning more seriously. This week he hired strength and conditioning coach Darryl Hudson. Cris Arreola
AP Photo/Eric Jamison
Looks like Cris Arreola is finally taking the necessary steps to get in shape.
“It’s the first time Cris has done that,” said Henry Ramirez, Arreola’s boxing trainer. “Everybody at the top level has a strength coach. You need one at this level. We are not going to leave any stone unturned.”
There’s a good chance Arreola will land a title shot against Vitali Klitschko before the end of the year and Ramirez said he wants to be ready.
“We’re going to do the strength and conditioning in the morning and then boxing evening,” Ramirez said. “I’ll be at both. We want to get him to a legitimate, solid 240 pounds, which is where I believe he will be at his most effective.”
Ramirez met Hudson, who has worked with several boxers, at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas at the fight. He was working with main event fighter Winky Wright.
“I kept running him into the elevator,” Ramirez said. “I got his number. We called him last week and spoke about what we’d want to do. We’re going to start working with him on Tuesday. We know we could hire everyone in the world to work with Cris, but he’s the one who has to be willing to make the commitment. He told us he’s willing to do it, to step it up and get in great shape.”
Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.
