Though he might not yet have finally, official retired for good, Floyd Mayweather’s star has faded. Apart from fans asking whether or not the 42 year old great will return for another mega-bucks payday of a fight, or an exhibition, there isn’t much talk about Mayweather any longer. Floyd did his thing, for a number of years at top, top level, but now fans are eager for another superstar.
Just who is the man to replace “Money” Mayweather as The Face of Boxing?
Some people will no doubt say the sport has already crowned the next undisputed superstar, or face of the sport, with Mexican pay-per-view king Canelo Alvarez wearing the crown. Or is there another hot young fighter with enormous talent ready and waiting to receive the coronation? Errol Spence has gone on record as saying he will, with a win tomorrow night over Mikey Garcia, move on and focus fully on replacing Mayweather as the main man of the sport – the cash cow, the box-office supremo, the absolute best. And maybe he will do so.
Looking at the biggest current stars of the sport, at the fighters who have the potential to become ‘the next Mayweather,’ in terms of star-power and in terms of carrying the sport, at least in large part, there are perhaps a handful who could achieve such recognition and respect: Spence, Canelo (who at age 28 is younger than Spence and could potentially have another six or seven years left at the top) Terence Crawford, Garcia (should he cause the upset and beat Spence) and, looking further down the road, maybe Gervonta Davis or Shakur Stevenson.
Other than that, who else springs to mind? We don’t know how long Gennady Golovkin has left at age 37, while in terms of heavyweights, all three big names/champions, Deontay Wilder (33) Tyson Fury (31 this year) and Anthony Joshua (30 this year) have to get their career-defining fights on ASAP if the eventual winner of this rivalry is to become the main man of the entire sport.
Mayweather, and Manny Pacquiao, are tough acts to follow of course, but boxing has almost always had one absolute king when it comes to being the face, the cash cow of the entire sport, and it’s time for another man to pick up the mantle.
Spence seems to tick all the boxes: he is a brilliant talent, he has charisma, can be vocal, even controversial, and he has the ability to make some fans root for him, as well as make some root against him; just like Mayweather. All Spence has to do is keep on winning. Right now, it seems to be Spence or Crawford who will come the closest to replacing Mayweather; with Davis and Stevenson perhaps coming up in the next few years, if they can keep on the right track outside of the ring.
