Dan Rafael of ESPN pointed out recently that Floyd Mayweather Jr. (45-0, 26 KO’s) with his fame and fortune will never be able to have a legacy because he’s failed to fight Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s). I’m not sure that a fight against Pacquiao is really needed for Mayweather to cement his legacy.
The only thing good that could come out of a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight now is that it would attract a lot of fan interest, but it wouldn’t mean much for Mayweather’s legacy to beat Pacquiao now. Pacquiao has lost 2 out of his last 3 fights, and his promoter Bob Arum had to back him off of good opposition and put him in against one of his struggling Top Rank stable fighters Brandon Rios for Pacquiao to stop losing.
Marcos Maidana (35-3, 31 KO’s) was hoping to cash in with a big money fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. following his upset victory over Adrien Broner earlier this month on December 14th in San Antonio, Texas. But the chances of Maidana getting a fight against Mayweather are slim at best, and he might not even get a rematch against Broner. It’s doubtful that Golden Boy Promotions will let Broner fight Maidana again unless he forces the issue against their advice for him to move on.
Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) told the media on Monday in Puerto Rico that he wants to fight WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) next. Cotto is targeting the 38-year-old Sergio because he wants to win his belt and capture his 4th division world title in the process.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. said this past week that he won’t bother fighting Manny Pacquiao as long as he’s still being promoted by Bob Arum of Top Rank. Mayweather simply doesn’t want to work with Arum for some reason. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is coming out saying that there won’t be a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight until Pacquiao is no longer with Top Rank.
I believe that most of us had expected to hear Vitali Klitschko announcing his retirement from boxing sometime soon. And exactly this happened, as Vitali’s political agenda and involvement in Ukraine swiftly took a turn, and required an entirety of his time and attention. Not only is Vitali dealing with a vicious wave of protests, but is also trying to win over the people and the majority vote that would land him in the presidential office.
As fans know, Vitali Klitschko recently vacated his WBC heavyweight title and declared how he “cannot imagine” a ring return “as things stand now.” So, it seems there is a good chance that at age 42, the elder Klitschko brother has fought his last fight in the ring and can now retire from boxing, his contributions to the sport in the history books.
It’s no secret, many fans had their Christmas Wish come early when Adrien “Problem” Broner got his clock cleaned by Marcus Maidana in San Antonio, TX. Maidana fans licked their chops. They saw the cocky little clone of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. getting his comeuppance by finally facing a big puncher.
Trainer Naazim Richardson isn’t giving Amir Khan much of any chance of beating Floyd Mayweather Jr. if he’s the one that ends up fighting Mayweather in his next fight on May 3rd in Las Vegas. To Richardson, he feels that Khan will come out ahead just by giving Mayweather problems in the fight.
An interesting match-up between WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (28-0, 25 KO’s) and the junior middleweight slugger James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KO’s) is being talked about for next April on HBO, says HBO President of Sports Ken Hershman via ESPN. Golovkin has a stay busy fight against fringe contender Osumanu Adama (22-3, 16 KO’s) on February 1st in Monte Carlo, Monaco.