Floyd Mayweather Jnr vs Canelo Alvarez – Fighting on Social Media Or The Ring…

If you’ve kept an eye on social media, you would have seen there has recently been a lot of back and forth between Mayweather Jnr and Oscar De La Hoya. There has been history between the two, dating back to when they fought in 2007 – a fight in which Mayweather Jnr narrowly won, winning the WBC light middleweight title in the process. De La Hoya of course is the promoter for the man who has taken his mantle as the golden boy of world boxing, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. The question on many peoples lips now, is will we see a part two of Floyd Mayweather Jnr vs Canelo Alvarez.

The reasons we are talking of a possible rematch is two fold, firstly Mayweather Jnr has been busy the past month spreading rumours of a comeback fight, it was initially believed he would come back to have another go at Manny Pacquiao. The two famously fought, albeit five years too late in what was a money spinning and money making fight, both boxers making over $100million. Then, the UFC’s newest star Khabib Nurmagomedov did a number on Mayweather’s last opponent, Conor McGregor – which lead to Khabib calling Mayweather out. The former pound for pound King of boxing, ever the businessman, knows a good opportunity when he sees one. Floyd was quick to respond to Khabib for the very obvious reason that he knows he would make a huge amount of money to box someone who by professional boxing standards, is extremely mediocre – and that’s being generous. Yes we all know too well that if it was in the octagon then Khabib would demolish Floyd within a round, the mismatch between the two in the cage is as big as the mismatch between the two in the ring.

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It’s easy to see why Floyd would come out and now say he wants to fight Khabib and then give McGregor a rematch. This is very easy money for Floyd for very little risk, he would not even really need to do much boxing training for these fights, such is the gulf in talent between him and the UFC stars when it comes to boxing. If an ageing Manny or a couple of MMA fighters call Floyd out for a boxing fight, Mayweather Jnr won’t waste time responding…when the calls are made for Mayweather to come back and fight one of the top fighters in or around the welterweight division, don’t expect Mayweather Jnr to entertain those thoughts.

Recently Canelo Alvarez, who has just signed a mega millions deal with DAZN in the USA, showed his eagerness to avenge his one and only loss by calling for a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jnr. If Floyd is all about money, then he will not find a bigger and more money making fight than a repeat bout with Canelo. In response though, Floyd has only taken to social media to insult both Canelo and De La Hoya…
“It didn’t matter if Canelo ate his PED steak or not this night, this was by far the easiest fight of my career!
“Connor 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 $300 million plus. It literally takes me 1 night and 1 fight to make what you might make in 5 years and 11 fights!
“So really, who’s still winning? You do the math!” revealed Mayweather Jnr on his instagram account.
This was in response to Oscar De La Hoya claiming Mayweather Jnr was ‘salty’ at the amount of money Canelo would be making from the DAZN deal. It’s not just Canelo whom Floyd has been taking shots at since, naturally De La Hoya was going to get it far worse…
“I fought her and her name is Oscar ‘Golden Girl’ Dela Hoya” said Mayweather Jnr, whilst posting the infamous picture of Oscar De La Hoya in boxing gloves and fishnet stockings. The insults have continued from there and no doubt likely will, but will we ever see a rematch between Canelo Alvarez and Floyd Mayweather Jnr?

My opinion is that no, we will not see a rematch and I don’t think it matters how much the fight will make. I think the issue most people are forgetting is that Canelo’s next fight is in the super middleweight division, which is a weight of 168lbs. I’m sure Canelo could come back down in weight to 160lbs and likely a little less for a catchweight fight, but Floyd is really a welterweight who should be fighting at or around 147-150lbs. Floyd will realise that fighting at a weight closer to Canelo’s liking is only giving an extra advantage to the 28yr old Mexican who is currently in the prime of his career. Floyd will not fight Canelo at anything close to 154lbs and above especially since despite retiring, if Floyd came back he would still be the A side, Canelo needs Floyd a lot more than Floyd needs Canelo. We also don’t know how much of a factor clenbuterol was in getting Canelo down in weight, could he make the weight now? Little chance Floyd will want to give someone he terms as a drugs cheat a shot at fighting him knowing how stringent he was when it came to fighting Manny Pacquiao.

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We also have to consider that the whole Floyd Mayweather Jnr brand is built upon the unbeaten record of 50-0. This means Floyd will likely not risk losing his undefeated record because if he does, his whole business takes a hit, it’s not just a matter of simply losing a fight, it is a matter of losing a brand and a business model. It makes much more business sense for Mayweather Jnr to fight someone he is guaranteed of winning against, whilst still making nine figures, that means fights against Khabib or McGregor make the most business sense, high reward for low risk. There is Manny Pacquiao, the news was that Pacquiao will fight Broner in January and then fight Mayweather after this, although I do see Floyd winning this because I think his style just has Manny’s number, whether they fought 10yrs ago or fight next year – Floyd Mayweather Jnr would always beat a style like Pacquiao’s, I don’t think this fight gets made, if it does, again Floyd is not risking as much against Pacquiao who like Floyd, will be 40+ years of age should they ever meet in the ring again.

The chances of Floyd fighting Canelo are extremely slim. I wouldn’t be in favour of it either, Canelo is much better now and much stronger. For a 41yr old to come out of retirement and fight one of the best boxers on the planet would be a grave mistake and historically speaking it very very rarely, if ever goes the way of the elder statesman. The two worst enemies of a fighter and inactivity and age, Floyd would have to battle both of these as well as having to deal with a multiple weight world champion who is at the top of his game and arguably top three pound for pound talent in the world. Whereas Mayweather has only fought a boxing novice in McGregor the past couple of years, Canelo has fought twice with another of best fighters in the world, Gennady Golovkin. If Floyd was to come back and challenge an active boxer then he should be looking at someone like a Terence Crawford or grant one of those wishes to a man who has been ‘rubbing his lamp’ dreaming for the fight over a number of years now, Amir Khan – who is still a money draw. The other option would be Adrien Broner, who has just reportedly snagged the Manny Pacquiao fight, but a fight between Floyd Mayweather Jnr vs Adrien Broner would have enough history to make a lot of money whilst still giving it some credibility. Some may throw other names into the hat such as Errol Spence Jnr, but he too I believe is just physically too big for Floyd at this point in his life. A 41yr old Floyd will not want to push the boundaries too much in any return bout.
In the meantime, I guess us boxing fans will have to be content with Floyd and Oscar continuing their slanging match over social media.