by Robert Uzzell: I keep having this eerie feeling that Floyd Mayweather is going to go for it in the final fights of his career. I’ve never subscribed to the fact that Mayweather has ducked or dodged opponents in the past. For every time someone has mentioned this, one merely has to look at Mike Tyson not fighting Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield at times in his career. We can look at the fact that Ray Leonard ignored Aaron Pryor’s and Mike McCallum’s pleas for fights many years ago.
Mayweather has fought Miguel Cotto (a guy he allegedly ducked in the past), Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez, and Robert Guerrero in four of his previous five fights. Guerrero was a hot fighter who had gone 15 fights without a loss. He was also a six-time world champion in four different weight classes. He was fresh off of a major destruction of Andre Berto and had a style that should’ve given Mayweather problems. Marquez, Mosley, and Cotto are Hall of Famers. So, to say Floyd hasn’t stepped up to the challenges is ludicrous.
If you said a year ago that Floyd would move up in weight again to take on a young, strong, hungry Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, most experts would have laughed in disbelief. Yet, that is what we will get on September 14, 2013. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Floyd continue this trend by fighting Pacquiao and, maybe even more surprising, Adrien Broner. Yes, THAT Adrien Broner.
Broner has said that he’d never fight Mayweather, but as the WWE’s (WWF at the time) Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase used to say, “Everyone’s got a price!” In June, after Broner struggled in a fight with Paulie Malignaggi, Floyd Mayweather was asked to survey his young protégé.
“I’m proud of Adrien Broner’s victory,” Mayweather stated to the media. “There are a lot of things he still has to learn. Me personally, I feel that he should’ve got the knockout. He was flat-footed. Mayweather continued, “I just feel like with my career, a lot of times they try to compare the two.”
I’m sure that Broner heard these comments and no matter how he may have brushed them off publicly, two things have occurred. First, I’m sure once the cameras were turned off and he had some alone time, Adrien may have wondered why Floyd went public with his analytical criticism. Secondly, his machismo probably took a little bit of a hit. No check that. It took a BIG hit.
On the flip side, could Mayweather’s criticism be looked at as a rebuttal to Broner’s previous response when asked if he’d ever fight Floyd?
“I want to see him retire undefeated. I don’t want to hand him a loss.” A slip from Freud? Was Broner saying that if they ever fought he would beat Mayweather. One has to wonder.
I sense a Floyd Mayweather/Curtis Jackson type of fallout. People say that Mayweather/Alvarez is the best fight that can be made. I think most who say that view it from a monetary and pay per view outlook. But if Floyd Mayweather wins his next two fights and Adrien Broner wins his next two – and if Broner sharply critiques Mayweather’s performances as Floyd has his – we could be on to something.
The Mayweather/50 Cent split potentially had to do with multiple things. But one thing you can be sure of, the biggest obstacle was E-G-O! We are talking two of the biggest egos in boxing. One deserved and one that puzzles me to this day.
In a way, Mayweather represented a changing of the guard in boxing. Boxing’s first hip-hop superstar. A guy who wore the saggy jeans and tank tops and bling. A guy who talked about big houses and big cars and crossed into the music genre.
Broner has taken it a step further with social media (he recently threatened suicide via Russian roulette on Twitter), and had an extreme videos performing lewd acts in a strip club. Not to mention his attempt at publicly humiliating Malignaggi with the “Jessica” innuendo.
I think all of this will lead to a showdown between Floyd Mayweather and Adrien Broner. I see a bit of animosity brewing as boxing’s cash cow does his victory lap and a future moneymaker attempts to build his brand.
Don’t be shocked if Floyd Mayweather continues to fight the best and don’t be more shocked if one of his future opponents is Adrien Broner.