You can’t deny that Floyd Mayweather Jr. sent shock waves through the boxing world yesterday morning with the announcement of his September 17th showdown with WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz. Having been inactive for over a year and having taking his lumps from the media in that time, Mayweather looks to be getting things on track by challenging the dangerous southpaw now fighting out of Southern California.
This is another big move by Golden Boy Promotions, who seems to be in the midst of a great run with Bernard Hopkins’ recent victory over Jean Pascal and upcoming fights showcasing WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez, junior welterweight contender Lucas Matthyse, Cuban standout Erislandy Lara, and WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan, who faces off with fellow champion Zab Judah in Las Vegas on July 23rd.
Our colleague Lem Satterfield at BoxingScene.com recently caught up with Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, who discussed all of the good fortunes coming to the company in recent times. Speaking specifically on the June 18th bout between Alvarez and British contender Ryan Rhodes, Schaefer revealed that he has had some uneasy nights because of the matchup.
“Saul Alvarez is 20 years young,” Schaefer told Satterfield. “And I am sure that [big] fights will come. But right now, he’s got a very, very tough fight with Ryan Rhodes ahead of him. I don’t want to talk about anything else and frankly, neither should Saul Alvarez. I’m a little bit nervous about that fight because this guy is a huge puncher.”
News flash: Roger Mayweather praises Victor Ortiz, trashes Manny Pacquiao
Continuing further, Schaefer threw a bit of a curve ball by confirming that, despite his youth, Alvarez very well may be one of the characters connected to the Mayweather-Ortiz extravaganza.
“But could I see potentially a fight where Canelo is involved with the winner of Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz? Absolutely. We’ve learned lessons on talking about things like that. We’ve done it before, and I know Bob Arum has done it as well, where you wait too long for a fight to make it happen,” Schaefer continued.
Alvarez is already a huge star in his native Mexico but still getting acclimated to his exposure in the United States. While you never want to push something too soon in the sport of boxing, Schaefer says he will listen to what the fans have to say about things.
“That’s why sometimes, it’s not good to wait for these things to happen. One guy may be too young, and another guy may be too inexperienced or whatever. But if there is a public demand there, where they want to see a fight, then we always try to get those fights done.”
An interesting twist and one that will come with it’s share of speculation. Mayweather-Ortiz has already changed the landscape a bit for 2011 and come the morning of September 18th we will have even more answers.
