Talks underway for Floyd 'Money' Mayweather Jr. to face Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez - ESPN
Talks begin for next Mayweather fight
Updated: May 9, 2013, 6:35 PM ET
By Dan Rafael | ESPN.com
0
0
0
Email
Print
Just a few days removed from welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s dismantling of interim titleholder Robert Guerrero on Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer told ESPN.com on Thursday that he already is working on Mayweather's next fight.
Schaefer said he is hopeful of finalizing a fight between Mayweather, the pound-for-pound king, and unified junior middleweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, a match that looms as one of the biggest in boxing.
Rafael's Boxing Blog
Rafael Get the latest scoop and analysis on the world of boxing from ESPN.com's Dan Rafael in his blog.
"I am working on the fight," Schaefer said. "I'm crunching the numbers. You should see my calculator -- it's red-hot. I am working on a lot of fights, but this is my No. 1 priority."
Schaefer, who promotes Alvarez and works with the 36-year-old Mayweather (44-0, 26 KOs) on a fight-by-fight basis -- but has promoted all seven of his fights since 2007 -- wants to make the fight.
"This is something I am pursuing and I am having conversations with both sides," Schaefer said. "Canelo wants the fight and Floyd has never turned down an opponent."
When Mayweather announced in December that he would fight on May 4, he also said he would fight twice in 2013 with the second date, Sept. 14, back at the MGM Grand. It's an ideal date to face Alvarez, one of Mexico's biggest stars, because it is the weekend of Mexican Independence Day, a traditional weekend for a major fight involving a top Mexican fighter. Mayweather's fights against Victor Ortiz (2011) and Juan Manuel Marquez (2009) were on the same weekend.
Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KOs), 22, cemented his status as the top 154-pounder in the world on April 20 when he outpointed Austin Trout to unify two world titles in front of a sold-out crowd of 39,247 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Mayweather has not fought twice in a four-month span since 2003, but reiterated at the news conference after beating Guerrero that he planned to return quickly.
"We're going to be back in September," Mayweather said.
Mayweather has been on talk shows this week also saying he would fight again in September.
The fight would be the second of Mayweather's 30-month deal with Showtime/CBS for up to six fights, which he signed earlier this year after leaving longtime TV home HBO.
One of the key stumbling blocks to making a Mayweather-Alvarez fight, however, will be settling on the weight. Mayweather is the welterweight champion -- 147 pounds -- who has twice won junior middleweight belts but never has weighed more than 151 pounds for either of those 154-pound maximum fights. Alvarez is a big junior middleweight and has said he was not interested in negotiating a catchweight that would require him to fight at a weight lower than 154.
Whomever Mayweather fights in September, Schaefer said he needed to get the fight finalized in the next few weeks in order to launch the promotion properly.
Alvarez initially was supposed to fight Trout on the Mayweather-Guerrero undercard as long as he had a signed deal from Mayweather promising him the next fight, provided he beat Trout and Mayweather beat Guerrero. Mayweather, however, declined to sign the deal and Alvarez-Trout was instead moved to its own card on April 20 and did big business.
