LAS VEGAS -- The question of what Floyd Mayweather does next if he had lost Saturday’s weleterweight fight to Shane Mosley seemed pretty clear, a product of the first rematch clause in any fight contract during his brilliant career.
What happens next after he improved to 41-0 with a unanimous decision victory over Mosley seems much murkier.
Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao is the fight the public wants. But those two, after agreeing to all the usual sticking points -- including financial terms -- reached an impasse on drug testing.
The assumption that the Mayweather-Mosley winner would fight Pacquiao next is based on a thaw in those frozen talks, which is far from certain.
“This is not bragging or boasting,” Mayweather said, “but with or without Pacquiao, Floyd is going to be able to go out and make $20 million or $30 million a night. With or without him, I’m still able to do that.”
Mayweather’s gross purse was $22.5 million for fighting Mosley, and he was to receive a percentage of all pay-per-view revenues after 1.2 million domestic buys.
If the fight goes much over that threshold, it could present an even bigger hurdle to a resumption in Mayweather-Pacquiao talks than the Olympic-style random drug testing the Grand Rapids native sought in failed negotiations last winter.
When the Mayweather proposal fell through, Pacquiao fought Joshua Clottey instead, in a fight that produced about 700,000 domestic buys.
If Mayweather-Mosley far exceeds that, which is a virtual certainty, Mayweather already has said the bulk of the financial split would have to go his way before he would agree to fight Pacquiao.
“I don’t think about no Pacquiao,” Mayweather said. “I’m a boss, I only talk to bosses. He’s got to do numbers like I’m doing. What did him and (Juan Manuel) Marquez do, 300,000, 400,000? Congratulations. Got to step his game up. Got to step his game up. Got to step his pay-per-view numbers up. I average 1.3 million, with ease.”
Mayweather-Marquez did 1.086 million domestic pay-per-view buys, more than 2 1/2 times what Pacquiao-Marquez II did in 2008.
Mayweather suggested his next move might be a worldwide tour against lesser opponents.
“I’m Floyd Mayweather, they come to see me, regardless,” he said. “I could fight three months, fight a fight a month, and make $30 million, just like that. I could make $10 million a fight. This world is huge.”
Another shot at Pacquiao
Mayweather probably would have earned recognition as Fighter of the Decade if not for one fight in the final two years of the decade.That Pacquiao earned that honor instead clearly rankled him.
“They say Pooch
-e-yow got Fighter of the Decade, right?” he said, intentionally mispronouncing his rival’s name. “Well, how did Pooch-e-yow get Fighter of the Decade when he got outboxed by Erik Morales and had a knockdown, drag-out with Marquez? I just don’t understand this. And all these fighters have been cakewalks for me. They’ve all been cakewalks for me. I just don’t understand this. Do you?”
-e-yow got Fighter of the Decade, right?” he said, intentionally mispronouncing his rival’s name. “Well, how did Pooch-e-yow get Fighter of the Decade when he got outboxed by Erik Morales and had a knockdown, drag-out with Marquez? I just don’t understand this. And all these fighters have been cakewalks for me. They’ve all been cakewalks for me. I just don’t understand this. Do you?”E-mail David Mayo: dmayo@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/David_Mayo
Source: mlive.com
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