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18 months ago, Floyd Mayweather Jr announced his retirement, stating “I don’t have the desire I once did”. Now, from the sound of that statement, one is led to believe that the motivation that once existed is gone, the desire to train and compete is not what it was so there is no desire to continue.
Bravo! After all, Floyd sat upon the pound for pound list, claimed world titles in five weight classes, made a fortune of money and is leaving the sport with all his bearings intact.
Mayweather Jr accomplished what every fighter sets out to achieve perfectly and most rational people could agree with this decision. After all, why continue in a dangerous sport you have no wish to compete in anymore and take the chance of getting hurt?
Retire on top and wait for your day to be inducted into boxing’s Hall of Fame, something very few have managed to do.
But few outside of the Mayweather camp believed this retirement would last.
A vast majority of observers believed Floyd was using his retirement speech as a ploy, after all, he was the top ranked fighter in boxing and opportunity was wide open.
After a big payday like that of his bout with Oscar De La Hoya, perhaps he was waiting for the right moment to make a huge welterweight showdown with who ever was left after Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Paul Williams, Shane Mosley and Joshua Clottey had all faced each other and cleared up the chaos.
De La Hoya wanted another bout with Floyd in the worst way and maybe if Mayweather waited long enough, Oscar would once again raise his offer for a rematch. Who knew for sure what loomed in Mayweather’s mind for certai? One thing that was vastly agreed upon was that Mayweather was not retired for good and only time would tell what his motives were.
Just three months into Floyd’s retirement, rumors began to circulate in various media outlets on his future plans. Everyone seemed to have this undisclosed source that was close to Mayweather who had verified for sure what we could expect next.
One outlet claimed their source stated that under no terms would Floyd return to boxing, while another printed that their source advised Mayweather was ready, willing and able to return if the right offer was made.
Some media sources stated Floyd was in the gym and would announce his return soon and yet another claimed Floyd was done with boxing, but we would soon see him in MMA arenas. Never was a single source verified and never were any stories the same.
As for Floyd himself, the only word from him came through short, uninformative interviews or second rate YouTube videos where he was showing off his piles of money claiming to be “hardcore”.
His only other media coverage came through a laughable claim of starting his new career as a rap artist. Media attention had dwindled on the once pound for pound king, something that many figured would bruise the ego of Mayweather and bring him out of retirement for certain.
After all, the spotlight was what he craved more then anything and that is one thing everyone could agree on. Still, months more passed and no word on Mayweather’s return to the ring.
Suddenly like a genie out of his bottle, Mayweather appears from nowhere announcing his retirement as officially over and before we know it, he has signed to fight Juan Manuel Marquez for his return bout.
Still cocky and arrogant in interviews, Floyd reminded us that he has never been beaten and he is still the true pound for pound champion. Promises of coming back to defeat the so called best in boxing spouted out quicker than a hummingbird on caffeine. It was as if Floyd had never left, with a few exceptions.
While Floyd has always been one of the lamest trash talkers in the game, such as the time he brought a chicken to a press conference looking more worried about dropping the bird than spouting out his insults, he has always sounded confident in what he said.
In his return interviews, while still arrogant, he has lacked conviction in his words. He speaks about Juan Manuel Marquez being nothing more than a tune up, yet he doesn’t even sound certain that he believes his own sentences.
When on ESPN with Brian Kenny, Mayweather had a verbal showdown with Shane Mosley. During the banter, Floyd claimed he would not fight Mosley because Shane is not a “pay per view” fighter, and then looked off camera towards someone else with a “do you think anyone will believe that?” expression.
Floyd knows as well as everyone that he is one of the worst pay per view draws among any active elite fighter today, with the exception of Roy Jones.
Shane Mosley is a hot draw right now and since his destruction of Antonio Margarito, the public is screaming to see his next bout. Outside of a fight with Manny Pacquiao, a clash with Mosley would be the biggest fight available for Mayweather.
In all truth, Mayweather is a pay per view risk and it is his opponent that promoters bank on to draw viewers as Floyd’s buy numbers speak for themselves.
Recent news of Floyd’s financial situation starts to bring everything into perspective. Pacquiao is the biggest draw in boxing right now and a contest with the Filipino legend would garner the biggest payday.
But before stepping in with Manny, why not test the waters with the man who gave Pacquiao his two biggest challenges to date, Juan Manuel Marquez?
It would be a perfect measuring stick on exactly how good Pacquiao is, as if Mayweather can blow through Marquez, there is a chance Pacquiao may not be as big of a challenge as predicted.
If a bout with Marquez is hard fought, then there may be reason to postpone a showdown with Manny. While it is not certain that a victory over Marquez guarantees how a performance against Manny would play out, it would show Floyd where he stands in terms of needing more ring time.
If you take the money situation and factor in the Marquez bout, the answer points to a need for a big pay day right now.
Why else turn down lucrative offers from other fighters? If Mayweather is coming back, what does it matter if he fights Pacquiao now or three bouts from now, its all money in the bank.
But again, how bad does Floyd need money in his bank sooner rather then later? Even Floyd Mayweather Jr is not arrogant enough to believe that after 18 months away he can come back and defeat the best fighter in boxing today without shaking off some ring rust, and taking on the much smaller Marquez serves its purpose in more ways than one.
Mayweather is making the same mistakes that dozens of past greats have made due to money problems.
Joe Louis fought again after retirement to make a needed payday and look what happened in those bouts. Ray Robinson fought longer than need be due to money problems. Muhammad Ali rushed into his first fight with Joe Frazier after being exiled to end up with his first loss and Mike Tyson ended up disgraced, fighting men like Kevin McBride and quitting on the canvas because he had to fight after not wanting to.
Floyd has stated he no longer had the desire to fight, yet he is rushing back and taking on the best this sport has to offer with no warm up bouts. Is he heading down the same path as the former greats mentioned above?
Money problems may just be a rumor, as there has been no undeniable evidence, and it is possible that Floyd is back just because he wants to prove a point but the surrounding circumstances state otherwise, and Floyd’s actions state otherwise.
Then again, maybe that is exactly what Mayweather wants everyone to believe and this way, the victories will appear that much more impressive. There is no real way of knowing for sure, but time will tell.
When we receive our answer, it will come in one of two ways. Either Floyd Mayweather Jr will surprise us all and prove how great he really is by cleaning up the top tier without any hesitation or he will end up on his back wondering what went wrong.
If the latter of the two proves to be true, he would not have been the first and he will not be the last to ever fall to such a fate. In fact, the only one who may be surprised by it all is Floyd himself.
