Several reports have surfaced of late claiming that anonymous sources within Floyd Mayweather’s camp are indicating that he is gearing up for a ring return this summer, and that he still wants to fight long time rival Manny Pacquiao at some point, possibly with a warm up fight first.
So far none of these stories have been publicly acknowledged by team Mayweather as either true or false.
Also none of the sources cited in these articles are named, but are said to be prominent members of team Mayweather.
Ordinarily anonymous sources tend to spell dubious stories, but from the ever secretive Mayweather team it tends to be anonymous or nothing when it comes to getting any definitive answers.
As usual it also isn’t clear why, if he is indeed returning to the ring soon, Mayweather doesn’t just announce his intentions and name his next opponent.
Or at the very least separate some of the fact from the fiction when it comes to negotiations that he may or may not be involved in, his promotional status, and so on.
Most recently light welterweight champion Tim Bradley has been named as a potential Mayweather opponent, as was Paul Spadafora before that and at one time Paulie Malignaggi.
Despite the numerous rumors of Mayweather’s return over the past year however, some of which he was instrumental in starting, it now looks more likely than ever that he will soon have to fight again.
The other recent news concerning Mayweather is that he is once again facing a tax bill running into the millions, meaning that a ring return is probably inevitable at some point.
Photos: Amir Khan, Ricky Hatton promoting April 16th event
After his brief retirement after fighting Ricky Hatton in 2007 it was heavily rumored that Mayweather was on the verge of bankruptcy and that he was forced to fight again because he simply ran out of money due to his extravagant lifestyle. Advertisement
Outward appearances then would suggest that Mayweather will fight again in the near future because he once again needs the money.
At the same time however there have been recent statements from both Top Rank boss Bob Arum and Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz stating that Mayweather turned down recent offers to fight pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao.
Koncz, speaking to ABS-CBS News news yesterday said that Floyd was offered a $50 million guarantee, and reiterated the $100 million dollar offer from a foreign interest that he wouldn’t name.
“A country that I won’t name offered us $100 million to bring the Mayweather fight there,”
“He refused the $50 million? It means he don’t wanna fight Manny at this point in his career. Very simple,?
Arum, speaking to MPBoxing a couple of weeks ago, shared similar sentiments:
“Take a guess at the number he asked for himself. 100, that’s it. 100 million just for himself. F***, who’s going to pay him 100 million? I mean, unless Manny fights for nothing how can you do the fight?” Again no official word from the Mayweather camp has been heard on the matter, but surely if he is in need of a decent pay day then the biggest in the history of the sport is a good place to start?
Even if he were to lose initially with even a single rematch Mayweather could clear well over $100 million in the space of a year.
To turn down that kind of money though, particularly after Pacquiao publicly accepted any kind of random drug testing regime Mayweather wanted, could potentially indicate a number of things.
Could Mayweather be looking for a tune up before he takes on someone of Pacquiao’s caliber?
Is he really that worried about losing his unbeaten record, knowing that he’s getting older and possibly slowing down?
Does he merely not want to have to deal with Bob Arum, and consequently will never step into the ring with Pacquiao?
All unanswered questions that can only be addressed by Mayweather himself.
Sam Ramsey, Pitt: “Floyd isn’t done yet, he can’t even pay his taxes and he bets like $100k every day. He needs to fight again whether he wants to or not”
