So, boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. has started visiting his gym to train. If this is not a strong signal that the 50-0 win owner and 42-year-old ring gladiator is ready to unretire and fight fellow ring great Manny Pacquiao again, fight pundits don’t know what is.
Maybe the Money Man, as in the Pacquiao-Mayweather Super Fight I that lasted five years to materialize, is merely waiting for the right time for the second chapter of the grand encounter to happen.
Few people in boxing history have understood timing better than Mayweather. He knows better than anyone what time when he finally laces his gloves anew for a date with the Filipino superstar.
It’s about knowing the moment and seizing it and Mayweather had done that throughout his unbeaten 19-year pro- career when he announced his self-imposed retirement in 2015, the year he and then now Philippine senator fought for the first time.
He did it in only his 18th fight when he wrested the WBC super featherweight crown from Genaro Hernandez to win his first world title at age 21. And to Diego Corrales, Jose Luis Castillo, Oscar De La Hoya and Juan Manuel Marquez.
To Miguel Cotto, too, Saul Alvarez, Marcos Maidana, all in impressive manner. Only the first Castillo fight ended with debate as who should’ve raised the hands in victory somewhat tainted his records.
“You get to this level where you’re making in figures in 36 minutes and you have to be the winner,” Mayweather said before the rich Pacquiao I clash.
The Money Man not only entered the ring 47-0 by that time with 26 KOs and he was 24-0 in world title fights and the owner of 11 world belts in five weight classes, including the WBC and WBA welterweight and super welterweight.
Which means, too, that the lure of big payday, could also be the reason for his change of heart.
The Mayweather-Pacquiao I showdown at that time was expected to be the largest-grossing fight in history, in which total revenues could reach $300 million. Experts predicted the fight would sell between 2.5 million and 3 million pay-per-views in the U.S.
It did and more.
Pay-per-view, WBN predicted when Mayweather and Pacquiao were first reported to a return in 2018 would still hit over two million buys. The first encounter secured a record of 4.6 million worldwide.
This record still remains unbroken to this day. Anything over the $2m figure would guarantee Mayweather well above nine-figures, the minimum purse the American would expect.
Pacquiao could pocket at least $50m for his trouble, $30m shy of what he originally earned in 2015 but still $40m above what he received in Thurman fight. (By Eddie Alinea )