By Mick Akers
After months of speculation Floyd Mayweather’s May 4 opponent has been finalized, as Mayweather will take on Robert Guerrero the fighter that had been speculated as Money’s opponent all along.
In what may be bigger news than the fight being finalized is that Mayweather will begin a six-fight deal with Showtime, moving away from HBO where he has fought the majority of the past few years. The Showtime deal will allow Mayweather to fight six times in a 30 month period, which means the pound-for-pound king will at least fight for almost another three years.
Although the Showtime deal’s financial information is confidential, a press release stated that the deal, if all six fights take place, will be the richest individual sports contact in all history.
Guerrero will present Mayweather (43-0. 26 KOs) with as big of a challenge as he has had in recent history, as Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KOs) battered Andre Berto in Nov. of 2012, he showed that he can pick apart a fundamentally sound, defensive-minded fighter. Although Berto is a great fighter in his own right, let’s be real here, he is no Mayweather.
Much will be made of Mayweather’s time away from the ring, which will be about one year once the May 4 fight date rolls around, but this will be no issue as Money has fought once a year since 2009. In those fights Mayweather showed no signs of rust and the chatter of Mayweather and rust should be a non-issue.
The second bout of the six-fight deal is expected to be a bout with junior middleweight champ Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who is expected to be on the undercard of the Mayweather-Guerrero bout against Austin Trout.
If Mayweather and Alvarez are successful in their May 4 bouts, the rumored September showdown will be the biggest fight of the year, making Money’s pockets even fatter than they already are.
