DESPITE officially retiring in August of last year โ well, announcing his final, final retirement, which is subject to how much money he is offered to return โ Floyd Mayweatherโs (50-0, 27 KOs) unerring ability to remain in the news remains intact. For a man renowned for dodging punches in the ring, the 41-year-old certainly has been hit with a lot of headlines outside of it and this continues to be the case.
The five-weight world champion has invested in a Beverly Hills Mansion to add more value to his property portfolio. The place sprawls over 15,000 square-feet, has an in-house theatre, an on-site guesthouse, presumably for Cousin Roy, and has six bedrooms plus nine bathrooms for Mayweatherโs many, and completely genuine, friends. It is a sign that he is continuing to heavily invest some of the rumoured 300+ million that he made when beating UFC star Conor McGregor (0-1, no KOs) last year.
Speaking of the UFC, Mayweather used his win 10th round stoppage win over McGregor to diss and dismiss former foe Saul Alvarez (50-1-2, 34 KOs). In a striking coincidence, Mayweather attacked Alvarez after it was announced that the Mexican has signed a $365 million 11-fight deal with DAZN.
“It didn’t matter if Canelo ate his PED steak or not this night, this was by far the easiest fight of my career!” stated Mayweather when referring to his one-sided victory over Canelo in an Instagram post. โConor McQuitter was a way better fighter than Canelo’s cheating ass and I beat the brakes off him too! It takes me 36 mins or less to make $300m plus. It literally takes me one night and one fight to make what you might make in five years and 11 fights! So really, who’s still winning? You do the math!โ
Alvarezโs deal with DAZN will hike him further up the Forbes Richest Athletes List that has been dominated by Mayweather in recent times, so his public declaration that ‘Iโm not bothered. Do look bothered? Iโm not bothered, though’ could be one of many recent and broad hints that Mayweather is due to return to action. Again.
Former foe Manny Pacquiao is mooted for May 5, a potential re-tread of their anodyne May 2015 encounter that was won at a canter by Mayweather, but he is also laying the groundwork for a money-spinner against the UFCโs Khabib Nurmagomedov or a rematch with McGregor that just might push Boxing News Editor Matt Christie over the edge.
โMcGregor was talking that s***, so it ain’t over,โ Mayweather told TMZ. โAfter me and Khabib lock up, me and McGregor we gonna lock up again. Why he keep fighting these MMA guys? Me and Khabib going to do crazy numbers, me and McGregor are going to do crazy numbers.โ
Like Alvarez, who has stated that his move to DAZN was done purely for the good of his fans, Mayweather revealed the altruistic thinking behind his decision to call for another boxing-UFC crossover โ one that will probably be stacked almost completely in his favour, of course โ when he said: โAll I’m doing is helping keep all combat sports alive.โ
Thanks, Floyd!
Indeed, Mayweather has Tweeted that the odds are already in play for a potential meeting with Khabib, and he likes the look of them: “Damn @PaddyPower already got me as a 25-1 favorite over Khabib,” he wrote.
Ali Abdelaziz, Khabibโs manager, is certainly receptive to the idea, telling ESPN that: โI’m talking to everybody right now. You have a guy who is 50-0, a guy who is 27-0. Both have never tasted defeat. Khabib brings 2.5 billion Muslims around the world, some of the richest countries in the world, and they’re behind him. Floyd Mayweather is a megastar… If the two forces clash, that’s a real fight.โ
Last yearโs unholy Mayweather-McGregor hybrid seems to have created a licence to print money if the right โfightsโ are made. Former UFC star Nick Diaz wants to enter the fray after calling out Alvarez following the news that โ and despite Floydโs protestations and what Eddie Hearn might say about Anthony Joshua โ the 28-year-old is boxingโs latest ATM.
โIโve never even thought about that, but the guy is moving up to 168 and fighting some no names,โ Diaz said to TMZ, referring of course to Alvarezโs fight against WBA super-middleweight ‘regular’ titlist Rocky Fielding at Madison Square Garden on December 15.
โLetโs be real Canelo moving up to my weight, he ainโt gonna win that fight. No way, come on man. Youโre just basically one of them little guys I spar before I fight. I am a professional fighter, Iโve had over 37 fights. Nothing personal. Motherf**ker donโt speak English so he ainโt knowing what Iโm saying anyway.โ
It seems that Pandoraโs Box is well and truly open. It may be a case of when, not if, we will see another Boxer vs UFC Fighter bout taking place under the unified rules of boxing following Mayweatherโs Rubicon moment in making the fight with McGregor a reality.
In the meantime, Mayweather potentially has another legal battle on his hands after Tech Crunch and other outlets reported that he and DJ Khaled have been named in a lawsuit aimed at Centra Tech ICO. Investors are accusing the fighter and his DJ friend of allegedly helping to promote an ICO (Initial Coin Offering) of bitcoins that turned out to be fraudulent after Mayweather plugged the payment method in a since-deleted Instagram post.
Two members of the company, Robert Farkas and Sohrah Sharma, were charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and both were arrested for masterminding โa fraudulent ICO in which Centra offered and sold unregistered investments through a CTR Token.โ A third man, Raymond Trapani, was also charged earlier this year.
As I said, there is no news like Floyd news, but this one is unlikely to have too much impact on a man who has put his name to a number of things, it just might encourage him to stick to investing in property and preventing people from hitting him in future.
Belfastโs Carl Frampton (26-1, 15 KOs) is fully focused on his December 22 meeting with IBF world featherweight title holder Josh Warrington (27-0, 6 early) at the Manchester Arena yet the 31-year-old still had time to fire off a dismissal in the general direction of Kid Galahad (25-0, 15 stoppages).
Galahad eased past Toka Kahn Clary at Bostonโs TD Garden (Note: the venue is not named after me) on Saturday night then predicted that he will meet Warrington for the IBF title as mandatory challenger once the Leeds-based titlist has defeated Frampton.
โI donโt think Frampton will beat Warrington but if he does he will vacate the title rather than fight me,โ predicted Galahad. โHe did it before with Guillermo Rigondeaux and he will do it again. I would love that fight.โ
โThe Jackalโ responded in kind when speaking to iFL about Galahadโs claims. โ[He is] insane,โ he declared. โLook at his performances, he thinks he is a killer but he is not. Look, he won the fight โ well done. Why would I vacate a title if my mandatory was Kid Galahad? Itโs stupid.โ
โI beat Josh Warrington, which I am planning to do, I am talking about unifying…I am going to fight a unification fight either against Santa Cruz, Gary Russell, Oscar Valdez possibly. That supersedes the mandatory… I want big fights from here on in.โ
The spectre of spectators fighting in the stands raised its ugly head again this weekend when a mass brawl broke out during a Frank Warren-promoted show at the Brentwood Centre in Essex. It took the gloss off what was an exciting, fan friendly British welterweight title fight between Johnny โThe Pexicanโ Garton and Gary Corcoran, which Garton won after 11 back-and-forth rounds, and once again raised questions about security measures at boxing shows.
Some took to Twitter to ask why this happens at Warrenโs events when, in truth, it is a problem that extends across the promotional divides. This writer has seen plenty of trouble across a range of shows and of varying degrees. Claims that it is down to rival football fans are sometimes valid yet I recall watching Birmingham City FC fans engaging in fights amongst themselves at the cityโs NEC so there is something deeper at play.
On the night, MC and all-round boxing man Mike Goodall used his tried and tested, and probably patented, approach of telling the crowd to โbehaveโ and โsit down to watch the boxingโ as security staff tried to intervene while bystanders filmed the affray and various assaults.
A woman can be heard shouting: โWhat are they playing at?!โ This is a sound question, with a spokeswoman for Essex Police stating that: โThis behaviour will not be tolerated and we are working with the organisers and security to determine who was involved. No arrests were made last night.โ
She added: โThe security of private events are the responsibility of the venue and organisers. Prior to the event, we met with the organisers, whose security arrangements appeared to be sufficient. We had officers in the area to assist in the event of any disorder and we dealt with what happened last night quickly โ we are continuing our enquiries into who was involved.โ
Fans in attendance have been encouraged to contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 with information. Now, some may say that calling the police is โgrassingโ and all that type of nonsense โ in this case the reality is that you would be reporting a few idiots rather than breaking some form of Omertร , so get on it if you have any further footage or information.
As for the issue itself, the temptation would be to call it another โblack eye for boxingโ yet it happens in football, on the streets of city centres, and wherever people gather together in numbers, so there is only so much that can be done to prevent flare ups.
The short solution is this: ‘Dear Knuckleheads. Please stop acting like absolute eejits; if you cannot enjoy a night out without being an imbecile then please stay in your home so we can contain the disease.
Yours,
a boxing fan.’