The more the sport of boxing turns, the more it seems likely that we are going to be seeing Floyd Mayweather back fighting sometime soon, likely in 2019.
First there was the meeting Mayweather had with Manny Pacquiao last month in Tokyo, when the two men came face to face and Mayweather took to his personal Instagram to share the news that he would indeed be coming back to face Pacquiao later this year.
If you remember correctly, Mayweather defeated Pacquiao over 12 rounds in May of 2015 in a fight that was long overdue. Pacquiao claimed to have a shoulder injury and has since been dying for another crack at his rival.
But you had to take Mayweather’s action with a grain of salt. For one, it was obvious the two men weren’t going to meet this year. Two, Mayweather said that on the same day of the Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin rematch, so he was possibly just throwing it out there to take away some of the buzz from their second encounter.
With Manny Pacquiao reportedly having signed on with adviser Al Haymon, it does seem more and more likely we could be seeing Mayweather vs. Pacquiao II taking place in May of next year, but there is another man who would love a crack at Floyd. That man is current UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was last seen going to war with the biggest star in UFC’s roster, Conor McGregor.
Khabib ended up dominating much of his fight with McGregor, even choking the champion from Ireland out in the fourth round. It was a huge, monumental win, but Khabib’s post-fight antics, in which he jumped over the Octagon to fight with members from McGregor’s team, left a sour taste in the mouths of some.
But that hasn’t stopped Khabib from challenging Floyd Mayweather to a fight of his own. While in Russia during the quarterfinals for the World Boxing Super Series, Khabib approached Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe and called Mayweather out. Mayweather has since returned the favor and told Las Vegas to get ready to cash some more checks for the potentially huge fight.
But we need to slow down before assuming this fight happens. Khabib is still not in Las Vegas’ good graces given his actions, and says he doesn’t want to fight there. And Mayweather would probably only want to fight Khabib in a boxing ring, while Khabib would certainly love a Mixed Martial Arts showdown inside of the Octagon.
Mayweather’s last fight was actually in August of last year against none other than McGregor, who he stopped in the 10th round. Mayweather vs. McGregor was a wildly huge event, with each man reportedly making over $100 million, and sold reportedly 4.6 million pay per view buys. It goes without saying that Mayweather vs. Khabib too would sell like crazy, but is a realistic option? And what would then become of Pacquiao’s options, as he reportedly has a two-fight contract with Haymon.
Let’s wait and see how this all plays out.
