Advertisement
image_pdfimage_print

By Norm Frauenheim-
mayweather
LAS VEGAS — Floyd Mayweather Jr. has his “May-vinci Code.” Nobody can crack it, he says. And nobody has. His 46-0 record is perfect proof. But impossible puzzles aren’t always confined by the ropes. Mayweather has his own outside of them. Mayweather wants to be liked, a desire expressed in a press-conference rant Wednesday by his promotional partner Leonard Ellerbe. Stop the hating, Ellerbe, said. But without the haters where’s the money?

Call it the “May-vinci Dilemma.”

Mayweather is who he is — The Money Team and at the top of Forbes’ annual dollar-for-dollar list among the world’s highest-paid athletes — because of the haters who pay for a chance to see him get beat. Perhaps, that’s cynical. But as a business model, it’s little bit like the ring style that has produced that unbeaten record. It works.

At 37, however, there are growing signs that Mayweather is tired of being the bad guy. You can almost see it in his face. Lengthening shadows below his eyes are there, evident even on the promotional posters for his rematch Saturday night with Marcos Maidana at the MGM Grand in the fourth bout on his six-fight deal with Showtime. Maybe, it’s a distracted look. Or, maybe, it’s just middle-age. Or, maybe, its the look of an aging fighter with an eye on retirement.

Mayweather, in fact, talked retirement this week amid the usual tumult of the pre-fight circus.

“A year from now will be my last fight,” said Mayweather, whose current Showtime deal would probably end with a September fight in 2015.

Even the mention of retirement a few days before an opening bell raises a red flag. It’s often interpreted to mean the fighter is looking past the dangerous task at hand, which in this case happens to be the free-swinging, heavy-handed Maidana. Then again, this is Mayweather, who will say just about anything at anytime. To wit: On Tuesday, he sympathized with former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, who was caught on video knocking out his wife with a vicious left hook. A day later, Mayweather was backtracking, saying he meant no offense and that he didn’t condone what Rice had done.

There’s always some kind of craziness swirling around Mayweather. We wouldn’t recognize him without it. But the retirement possibility is a flashing signal that perhaps he’s grown weary of training, controversy and the ever-present danger of the one punch that could beat him. Could he change his mind? Dumb question. He could decide to return to the ring faster than Michael Phelps was back in world-class waters.

“They may come with a contract or I could stop right now,” Mayweather said the day after he he proclaimed that his last fight will be next year.

If Mayweather does the expected, beats Maidana and wins two more in 2015, there’s a lingering question about whether he would want to extend his career by at least one fight for a chance at a milestone 50-0.

“No, two and one,” he said. “Why not? I could walk away right now.”

First, however, he has to make sure he doesn’t walk into a Maidana punch.
Santa Cruz talks Frampton

Super-bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz faces Manuel Roman on the undercard in a featured bout that could be a steppingstone toward a showdown against Carl Frampton, the Northern Ireland sensation who scored a unanimous decision over Koko Martinez last Saturday in front of 16,000 in Belfast. Santa Cruz said he watched the fight. “Frampton really looked great,” Santa Cruz said Thursday after a news conference for Saturday night’s undercard. “Watching him made me want to fight him even more. He has a lot of followers. I have a lot of followers. It think that would make for a great, great fight.”

When asked if he would fight Frampton in Belfast, Santa Cruz said he would leave it up to his management.

“If my management can work it out, if it’s right, I’m willing to go there,” he said.
Another Maidana

Maidana’s brother is on the undercard. Fabian Maidana, a welterweight, hopes to go 3-0 against Jared Teer. “Fabian boxes a little more more than Marcos,” Golden Boy Promotions matchmaker Eric Gomez said. “But he’s still got that big punch.”

Notes
There are reports that former Golden Boy CEO Richard Scheafer is in Vegas for the fight. However, he’s been seen about as often as Al Haymon has been quoted. …Potential controversy came and went with the gloves. According to Maidana trainer Robert Garcia, there was some sort of document that said the fighters would wear 10-ounce, instead of 8 ounce, gloves. It was a typo, Garcia said. In the heavier 10-ounce gloves, the heavy-hitting Maidana’s chances would have gone from slim to none.

Advertisement
Previous article“MAYHEM: MAYWEATHER VS. MAIDANA 2” TELEVISED UNDERCARD FIGHTERS FINAL PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES
Next articleJOE DEGUARDIA’S STAR BOXING PRESENTS CLETUS SELDIN HEADLINING “ROCKIN FIGHTS 15” SEPTEMBER 19 AT THE PARAMOUNT