Now that Shane Mosley is out of the way, what is next for Floyd Mayweather? The logical choice is pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao; however it is uncertain if either fighter will succumb to the others? demands. Mayweather wants Olympic style blood tests, which would require random blood and urine tests up until a pre-determined amount of days before the fight. Over their last negotiations, Pacquiao only agreed to tests until 21 days prior to the fight. Mayweather wanted at least 14.
Last night after his dominant performance against Shane Mosley, Floyd Mayweather reiterated to Larry Merchant of HBO that he will still hold any fighter to his blood testing demands. Especially Manny Pacquiao. ?If Manny [Pacquiao] takes the blood and urine test, we can make the fight, if not, we got no fight.? Floyd said.
There has been no word from the Pacquiao camp yet, however after Floyd?s impressive performance last night; it will only be a matter of time before negotiations begin again. Can a compromise be worked out? You would hope so. Mosley-Mayweather is expected to have generated between 2 to 3 million pay-per-view buys, which is a huge number. The prospect of a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight should definitely beat that number and payout each fighter approximately $30 to $40 million each.
But if Floyd can?t work out a deal with Pacquiao, who should he fight next? There are a few fighters who could make for interesting scraps, but none of them would be as exciting as a Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown. Here are some other candidates for Floyd?s next bout.
1.) Andre Berto ? The WBC welterweight champion is coming off an impressive knockout victory over Carlos Quintana last month. Berto has that rare combination of power and speed and has a tremendous heart and spirit in the ring. However for Berto, he still may be a little too green to fight Floyd.
2.) Miguel Cotto ? Cotto is scheduled to fight 154-pound champ Yuri Foreman in June. A fight that I feel Cotto should win rather easily. If that becomes the case, the prospect of a Mayweather-Cotto fight can be intriguing. Mayweather can move up to fight at 154 (similar to what he did against Oscar De la Hoya) and win a title or Cotto could move back down to 147.
3.) Amir Kahn ? This is a wild card entry (no pun intended). If Kahn convincingly defeats Malignaggi in two weeks, the Brit will continue to hold himself to the highest standard possible for a boxer. He has great international appeal and would sell PPV buys.
But no matter who Floyd fights next, he is bound to be the favorite, especially after his performance last night. Floyd clearly made a case that he could still be considered the #1 fighter in boxing. Unfortunately, no one can be sure until he and Manny Pacquiao finally meet up in the ring.
If Pacquiao-Mayweather can?t negotiate a deal, who should Mayweather fight next? You can e-mail me your thoughts at [email protected] or post your comments below.
