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Floyd Mayweather Jr. says Marcos Maidana is in the mix

Fighters Network
20
Dec

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RING No. 1-ranked pound-for-pound fighter Floyd Mayweather Jr. suggests that Adrien “The Problem”Broner‘s next fight should be as a junior welterweight on the undercard of his planned May 3 return to the ring at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas after being dropped twice and dethroned as WBA welterweight titleholder last Saturday by Marcos “Chino” Maidana.

In addition, Mayweather (45-0, 26 knockouts) said that Maidana (35-3, 31 KOs) is “now in the lottery jackpot box” as far as the Argentine’s potential for being his next opponent while also saying that a fight with Manny Pacquiao “won’t happen” because the eight division titlewinner is promoted by Golden Boy rival and Top Rank CEO Bob Arum.

“Maidana’s name is now in the lottery jackpot box. We all know the Pacquiao fight, at this particular time, will never happen,” said Mayweather, during an interview on FightHype.com “and the reason why the fight won’t happen is because I will never do business with Bob Arum again in life, and Pacquiao is Bob Arum’s fighter.”



Meanwhile, Broner (27-1, 22 KOs) had earned title belts over three weight classes, taking the WBO’s junior lightweight strap by third-round knockout over Vicente Martin Rodriguez in November of 2011, and the WBC’s lightweight version following an eighth-round stoppage of Antonio DeMarco in November of last year.

In his previous bout in June before facing Maidana, Broner, 24, jumped two weight classes for his 147-pound debut with a split-decision victory that dethroned Paulie “The Magic Man” Malignaggi for the division’s WBA’s belt.

Although Broner has stated that he wants a rematch against Maidana, Mayweather advises against it.

“I don’t think he should be focused on chasing the Maidana fight. I think what would be a good move for him is this. May 3, fight on my undercard; you know, fight a solid guy at 140, get back on track and get your career in order. That fight with Maidana should be nothing but a minor setback for a major comeback. But as far as Adrien is concerned, he still has a lot to learn,” said Mayweather.

“When I spoke to him after his fight, I said ‘you’re gonna have people that like you; you’re gonna have people that dislike you.’ The thing is this, I have fans that like me and I have fans that don’t like, but you gonna respect me. Once people get to throwing bottles and throwing beer on you, throwing different things at you at the fight, you’re losing respect from the fans.”

There is wide speculation that final details are close to being completed for Mayweather to face England’s Amir Khan, and that the announcement could be made soon.

In his last fight in September, Mayweather, who turns 37 in February, dethroned Canel Alvarez by majority decision for the RING and WBC 154-pound championships. Mayweather-Alvarez, promoted by Golden Boy, grossed a record $150 million.

Mayweather already was the WBA’s reigning 154-pound titleholder, having earned that belt by unanimous decision over Miguel Cotto in May of 2012.

In May of this year, Mayweather unanimously decisioned Robert Guerrero in defense of the WBC 147-pound title he had earned by dethroning Victor Ortiz via fourth-round stoppage in September of 2011, cementing his status as RING welterweight champion as well.

Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KOs) has been named as the No. 1 contender in the WBC’s 147-pound ratings behind Mayweather as listed in the organization’s recent rankings.

Meanwhile, Pacquiao, who turned 35 on Dec. 17, was last in the ring for last month’s welterweight unanimous decision triumph over Brandon Rios that sold only 475,000 units on pay per view — far less than the 1.15 million buys generated by Pacquiao’s sixth-round stoppage loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in December of last year.

Prior to facing Marquez, against whom he is 1-2-1, Pacquiao was dethroned as WBO 147-pound beltholder following a split-decision loss to Tim Bradley in June of 2012.

“Bob Arum gives Pacquiao a date, whereas Floyd Mayweather gives Floyd Mayweather his own date. I will be fighting again in May and I will be fighting again in September. I’m gonna give you two reasons the Pacquiao fight is not going to happen,” said Mayweather.

“Like I said before, I will never do business with Bob Arum in life, but I don’t wish him nothing bad. And I want to see Manny Pacquiao’s real pay-per-view numbers. Get his pay-per-view numbers from his last fight and compare them to my pay-per-view numbers with Canelo Alvarez. Did he do 1.2 million homes?”

Photo by Chris Trotman, Getty Images

Photo by Naoki Fukuda

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]

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