Espinoza: We’ll be calling [Floyd] after the Garcia-Thurman fight, maybe he’ll be interested in facing the winner

By James Slater - 01/18/2017 - Comments

Though the optimism for those who want to see Floyd Mayweather fight again is dwindling day by day, there are still plenty of people out there who feel the 49-0 superstar WILL maybe fight again. One of these influential people is Stephen Espinoza of Showtime, and he recently told BoxNation how he is curious to see if the upcoming March fight between unbeaten welterweight champions Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia “piques” Mayweather’s interest.

Espinoza said “certainly, we will be calling him (Floyd) after that fight,” and the Showtime boss is hopeful Mayweather will decide to return to have fight number-50 against the winner.

“Maybe the winner of Garcia-Thurman – maybe he sees something in that fight that draws his attention,” Espinoza said. “Certainly, we’ll be calling him after that fight and asking him what he thought. He looks pretty happy being connected to the sport as a promoter, and really not in the gym. But I think if something piques his interest, who knows? I think we’re at a point where he’s 40 next month, 19 years in the sport is a long time. In boxing it’s a lifetime.”

If Floyd did come back to face the Thurman-Garcia winner (arguably the best welterweight in the world; whoever wins in March) it would be a huge deal – certainly a far, far better fight than the talked of Mayweather-Conor McGregor “super-fight.” But would a 40-year-old Mayweather really take such a big, big risk?

Thurman and Garcia are both young, in their prime fighters and both have said a few times that they’d love to hit the Mayweather “Money” jackpot. But Floyd seems content as a promoter, as Espinoza said. Still, the other promoters and the money men in boxing continue to hope Mayweather fights once again. Imagine the numbers!

As for Thurman-Garcia, who wins? Both have predicted a KO win (or to be fair, Angel Garcia, speaking on behalf of his son, predicted the KO victory) and fans are braced for a great fight. Will it be as special as the Thurman-Porter war of last summer? We can hope too.