What’s next for unbeatable Mayweather?

 

SINGAPORE — There will always be two kinds of people in this world, those who want to see Floyd Mayweather win, and those who want to see him lose.

The Mayweather-Alvarez card put together by Golden Boy Promotions, which drew a record over $20-M in live gate revenue last weekend at the MGM Grand Garden Arena delivered on its promises of unparalleled action and drama.

It did not, however, go as many thought it would.

Canelo brought in throngs of Mexican fight fans who genuinely believed their boy would be the first to dethrone the pound-for-pound king from his lofty perch atop boxing’s elite. What they got instead was a vital lesson on the fundamentals of the sport, demonstrated by perhaps the most technically sound fighter in history.

Brutal choreography

Mayweather danced around Canelo’s forward plodding style with brutal choreography and dissected the Mexican with pinpoint precision. He made Canelo, touted as his stiffest challenge to date, look terribly green and ordinary.

Canelo could do nothing but follow Mayweather around the ring and try to catch him with a haymaker, there was no Plan B. He had a nearly 15 lb. weight advantage over Mayweather, but used none of it.

“The frustration was there, but simply he is a great fighter,” said Alvarez. “We tried to catch him, that’s what we tried to do all day. The 15 pounds were negated because I couldn’t catch him. There is no doubt he is a great fighter, a very intelligent fighter. There was no solution.”

Mayweather brilliantly stayed in the pocket, inviting a much obliged Canelo to attack and create opportunities for him to counter. Mayweather, with lightning in his fists, repeatedly stuck a hard left jab in Canelo’s face despite injuring his elbow mid-fight, and smashed him with staggering lead rights.

Canelo was always just a whisker short of finding his mark, a testament to Mayweather’s uncanny athleticism and reflexes.

Needless to say, those who wanted Mayweather to lose went home immensely disappointed.

At 36 years of age and vocal about his retirement plans in the next few years, Mayweather is as good as he’s ever been.

“I’ve only got 24 months left,” said Mayweather, regarding his future. “This champion (Alvarez) will carry the torch. Tonight was just my night,” he added.

Mayweather’s total domination of Canelo Alvarez left him with very few options on who to fight next. With four more fights left on his 6-fight contract with Showtime, Mayweather has expended nearly everyone worthy of a second look.

Alvarez was supposed to be “The One” to beat Mayweather, and now there’s no one left.

Who’s Next?

Fighting Adrien Broner, who employs essentially the same exact style, would be like a professor teaching his student with class in session.

Marcos Maidana is a certified Argentinian banger but has been easily out-boxed by less technical fighters.

Amir Khan, a name who’s come up multiple times past and present when discussing Mayweather opponents, would be the perfect candidate for a Mayweather knockout victory given Khan’s glass jaw.

Danny Garcia is great and in my opinion underrated but he’s nowhere near Mayweather’s level.

One guy, however, who would have no problem stepping up to the plate to face Mayweather, would be Manny Pacquiao – but the fight had no way of ever coming to fruition with over $100-M on the table before, so I don’t see any way for it to become a reality now that the interest has diminished.

Mayweather is tired of hearing about that fight and Pacquiao seems content on not chasing after him.

“At this point, Manny Pacquiao is not in my plans,” Mayweather said.

The problem with that is, I don’t think Pacquiao ever was in his plans.

Pacquiao, with his premium blend of speed and athleticism poses the only remaining threat to Mayweather’s seemingly impregnable defense.

If styles truly do make fights, there’s no style by any active fighter now that would appear to give Mayweather trouble, aside from Pacquiao.

Mayweather could actually move up to Middleweight to fight a fading Sergio Martinez, but it would be unfair of us to ask him to do so, considering Mayweather belongs at Welterweight – a good 13 lbs. below the Middleweight limit. The size differential between Martinez and Mayweather would be too great and I don’t think Martinez can drop down to 147 or even fight at a catchweight.

There’s also rising star Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, but he has no name whatsoever outside hardcore boxing circles.

This leaves Mayweather with, well frankly, no one left to fight.

Danny Garcia most likely

It’s lonely at the top and at this stage in his career, with possibly four fights left, Mayweather will have to flex his marketing muscle to sell the fans another mismatch.

The most likely candidate to get the call would be Garcia, who put a sound beating on Lucas Matthysse in the chief undercard. Experts picked Matthysse to dismantle Garcia quite easily, but Garcia’s underrated boxing skills carried him to a thorough victory.

A Mayweather-Garcia fight has the possibility of generating public interest partly because Angel Garcia, Danny’s vocal and outspoken father, will have no problem running his mouth off at Mayweather. The verbal back and forth would keep the fire burning until Mayweather puts the hammer down on Danny boy as soon as they step inside the ring.

Add to that the fact that Danny Garcia doesn’t seem at all too excited at the possibility of fighting Mayweather, and we have the makings of another well-hyped yet poor excuse of an even matchup.

“I beat the best fighters at 140 pounds, what else do you want me to do?” said Garcia, who plans to move up to Welterweight where Mayweather will most likely resume his career.

“I really don’t know at this date,” said Garcia, when asked about a possible fight with Mayweather. “I’m just a fighter.”

The reluctance by Garcia is not surprising. It’s understandable he wouldn’t want a loss on his record as much as Mayweather doesn’t want one on his.

So, if not Danny Garcia, then who?

The search is on.

“It was simple, I couldn’t catch him,” said Canelo. “He was very elusive. He’s a great fighter. I did not know how to get him. He is very intelligent. He’s got a lot of experience. Honestly, I couldn’t find him.”

And so it remains, as it did in 1996 when Mayweather debuted as a professional. You just can’t find the guy.

45 have tried.

45 have failed. – Rappler.com