Well, as you probably know, the best pound for pound fighter in the world today, Floyd Mayweather has officially announced his retirement from boxing. Mayweather's announcement came as a bit of a surprise given that he is currently in the prime of his career and the height of his drawing power. The announcement officially squashes any chance of the September 20th De La Hoya-Mayweather rematch that many would have watched but few would have cared about.
So is he done? Boxers always seem to have trouble staying away from the ring, so the odds are probably in favor of Mayweather lacing up the gloves once again--especially for a guy with the propensity to spend money the way he does. It would be a shame if he doesn't, given the entertainment that Money Mayweather brings to the sport. A fighter with Mayweather's blend of skills and instincts comes along once every few generations. He's also one of the few transcendent personalites boxing has left and losing him will be a devestating blow to the interest of the common fan. And from a selfish standpoint, no Mayweather means no Floyd Mayweather-Miguel Cotto megafight. (Or even a lesser fight against some other established welterweight like Antonio Margarito, Shane Moseley, or Paul Williams)
On the Kellerman and Kenny radio show today (10-1, 1050ESPN, best sports talk radio show in NYC), Max Kellerman concocted a pretty interesting theory regarding Mayweather's retirement:
According to Kellerman, most of Mayweather's persona depends on his brand being a massive draw, almost like how a Mercedes Benz is special because it is a Mercedes Benz. As long as people continue to think of Mayweather as a huge draw, the more he ends up being a huge draw. His first fight with De la Hoya set records; it reached 2.4 million households and generated around $120 million. Floyd earned $25 million from it. However, it wasn't a particularly exciting fight. Fans weren't really clamoring for a rematch. It would have been practically impossible for Mayweather-De La Hoya II to match what the first fight did, numbers-wise.
Now if the rematch happened, and it paled in comparison to the profitably of the first fight, or even worse if he were to somehow lose, Mayweather's brand takes a HUGE hit. It makes him look less important to the public, or less interesting. As a result, Mayweather calls off the fight via this psuedo-retirement and takes 12-18 months off in hopes of building anticipation for a bigger fight that fans are actually interested in.
In the meantime, Miguel Cotto will face Antonio Margarito on July 26th. Assuming Cotto is victorious, he enhances his draw power to make himself a worthy contender for De la Hoya. If he beats De la Hoya, he officially becomes a mega-star and the demand for a fight vs. Mayweather soars through the roof. At that point, Mayweather will demand a huuuuuuuuuge purse and come back to fight Cotto in what will be one of the biggest fights in boxing history. And if Cotto were to lose at any point along the way, then Mayweather can say that Cotto was never deserving of a fight anyway, a convenient excuse given the public perception that Mayweather is ducking Cotto.
Does it make sense? I really think so. Or at the very least, it made sense when Kellerman said it, so if I butchered it, it's my fault.
