Is Manny next for Money?

WBA/WBC welterweight and WBC lightmiddleweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. is expected to walk all over Argentine challenger Marcos Maidana at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas this morning (Manila time). While Maidana is known to be durable, he’s not in Mayweather’s class. The speculation is Maidana wouldn’t have gotten this chance to battle Mayweather in a rematch if the man called Money didn’t want it to happen.

Maidana is a rugged and exciting fighter but he’s limited. He’s a one-dimensional slugger, almost like a Joe Frazier or a Rocky Marciano who didn’t mind taking a shot to give one in return. Mayweather could’ve picked him apart in their first bout last May but apparently, held back. His motive? To assure himself of a “credible” and “beatable” opponent in his next fight.

In the welterweight division, Mayweather isn’t the only world champion. Manny Pacquiao, 35, holds the WBO version of the title while Kell Brook, 28, is the IBF king. Keith Thurman, 25, is the interim WBA titleholder. Mayweather isn’t too keen on taking on Brook whose record is 33-0, with 22 KOs.

Neither is he relishing the prospect of facing Thurman who like Brook is unbeaten with a 23-0 mark, including 21 KOs. In the lightmiddleweight category, the IBF claimant is Mexico’s Carlos Molina, 31, with a record of 22-5-2, including 16 KOs. The WBO champion is 2008 Olympian Demetrius Andrade, 26, with a record of 21-0, including 14 KOs.

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Mayweather, 37, is wary of battling undefeated champions who are much younger. Brook, Thurman and Andrade are probably not in his hit list. Maybe, Molina will be considered. As for Pacquiao, Mayweather probably thinks the timing is right for a showdown or a series of showdowns next year. Before Pacquiao beat Brandon Rios and Timothy Bradley on points, he had lost back-to-back to Juan Manuel Marquez and Bradley, raising doubts on his ability to continue fighting at a high level. That’s likely the cue Mayweather has been waiting for. The talk is secret negotiations are now going on. While Mayweather has denied it, the word is he’ll fight Pacquiao in May and September next year. The September rematch, of course, will depend on how close the first fight will be. If both bouts turned out to be humdingers, expect the staging of a trilogy.

A fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather is what fans want to see. If it doesn’t happen, fans will become increasingly disenchanted with the fight game and turn to mixed martial arts as a more credible entertainment vehicle for combat sports. As it is, fans are confused by the proliferation of world champions in the same weight class. The WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF are the primary governing bodies that sanction world title fights. Fans are pushing for unification title fights to give due recognition to the best of the best but because business is a more important consideration than fair play, the governing bodies aren’t rushing to determine who’s No. 1.

Mayweather is considered to be boxing’s top attraction today. In his last two fights, he guaranteed himself a combined purse of $72.2 Million because he’s his own promoter. Aside from that, he earned 50 percent of the gross pay-per-view receipts and 100 percent of the live gate sales. Forbes recently named Mayweather as the highest-earning athlete today. If he fights Pacquiao, Mayweather will end up with at least $150 Million. Mayweather holds the pay-per-view record for most subscriptions with 2.4 million hits in the Oscar de la Hoya fight and this year, picked up 2.2 million in beating Saul Alvarez

“Floyd is boxing’s pied piper, he will dance to his tune and the sport will follow,” said Boxing News in naming Mayweather as the most influential figure in professional boxing at the present. “The thing going against Mayweather’s longevity is his age. At 37 and with the end of his career in sight, it is going to be interesting to see what happens next, when he doesn’t have the carrot of offering fighters spots on his undercard as part of his bargaining power.”

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Mayweather’s dream is to retire unbeaten. His record is 46-0, with 26 KOs and it will remain unblemished after the Maidana rematch. He’ll never be able to duplicate Pacquiao’s record of winning eight world titles in different divisions so what’s important for Mayweather in establishing his legacy is to preserve his pristine record. That’s why he virtually chose Maidana as an opponent this morning and why he’ll battle Pacquiao next year.

Mayweather never wanted to fight Pacquiao in the Filipino’s heyday when he was knocking out Erik Morales, Ricky Hatton and De la Hoya. He knows eventually, they’ll face off in the ring. The timing is what will be determined. Mayweather just wants to wait for Pacquiao to get older, slower and more used to the good things in life so as to take away the hunger factor.

Miguel Cotto, who has fought both Mayweather and Pacquiao, was recently asked by Boxing News whom he thinks will win. “In 2007-8, I wanted to fight Mayweather but he kept coming up with excuses,” said the Puerto Rican. “He treated me the same way he has treated Pacquiao It’s probably true that he only fought me in 2012 because he thought I was finished at the top level. Manny would beat him convincingly. He wouldn’t be able to handle Manny’s speed. There’s no way Floyd could avoid his left or predict things with him. He would lose and he knows that.”

Justin Juuko, who was stopped by Mayweather in 1999, said it’s a tough call to choose the winner. “The winner would be the fighter who sticks with the gameplan,” he said. “By the seventh or eighth round, when things start changing, you start to fight the guy and forget the gameplan. To me, that fight is a very tough call. I know both guys. Floyd is very technical. You can’t match him. Pacquiao is very tough, strong and unpredictable. It’d be a good fight. Floyd doesn’t throw as many punches as Pacquiao but they land. Pacquiao’s power is deceiving. He overwhelms you with punches. He puts so much pressure on you. They have to make this fight before it’s too late.”