Amir Khan says Mayweather has picked Maidana for next fight

Floyd Mayweather Jr appears to have rejected Amir Khan as his next opponent for a megafight in Las Vegas in May.

In a series of tweets on Friday night, Khan sent out the clear message that Mayweather has chosen instead to take on the challenge of the Argentinian Marcos Maidana, whom Khan defeated on points in 2010, but who beat the rising Adrien Broner last December.

"No response from Mayweather or his team. Fights not happening. I should of taken the title fight last December against Alexander ..." Khan tweeted on Friday night, followed by, "very disrespected by his team. Wasted my time." and, "Good luck to Maidana against Mayweather."

Khan, who has been in full training for the fight in anticipation that he was the favored contender, added: "Can I apologize to the thousands of people who are let down? You me and everyone wanted the Mayweather fight. He's running scared."

 “Floyd is not the same fighter as he was three or four years ago. That’s why he picks slow fighters, because he doesn’t have the same movement as he used to.”

Mayweather has yet to announce the name of his next opponent officially. He has four fights left in a six-fight deal with Showtime that probably will earn him $600 million. Controversy surrounded the choice of his next opponent when Mayweather threw the option open to social media. Some votes had Maidana well ahead; others had Khan the favorite.

Khan thinks Mayweather hand picks his opponents and he might be right. But when you're coming to the end of the line of an illustrious career such as Mayweather's you almost have the right to do that. It doesn't make it right because it deprives the sport of boxing of the best matchups possible.  

Manny Pacquiao says he'd fight Floyd Mayweather for free

Manny Pacquiao wasn’t joking when he dared Floyd Mayweather to a fight where all the revenue and all the proceeds will go to charities around the world.

"I’m really challenging him" said Pacquiao last night.

The Filipino boxing icon must have had enough of Mayweather saying Pacquiao is desperate to fight him because of his tax problems.

Mayweather was quoted as saying that Pacquiao “wants me to solve his problems for him.”

Pacquiao is facing tax woes from the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) in the United States and the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) in the Philippines.

But the 35-year-old congressman from Sarangani said he’s “going through the process” of settling all his obligations

 “Floyd says I’m after the money,” said Pacquiao, who’s coming off an impressive win over Brandon Rios last November.

Before that, he lost two in a row against Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez, raising questions on whether it was time for him to retire.

But he came back strong against Rios, and shortly after the win, the twin tax issues cropped up.

Pacquiao reiterated his latest challenge to Mayweather.

“We fight and nobody gets any money,” said Pacquiao. “Floyd, if you’re a real man, fight me. Let’s do it for the love of boxing and for the fans. Let’s do it not for the sake of money. Let’s make the boxing fans happy.”

Pacquiao’s business manager, Eric Pineda, last night said it’s now up to Mayweather to take the challenge or not.

“The ball is in his hands now. Manny is willing to fight him for charity. And Manny is serious,” said Pineda.

Pacquiao is scheduled to return to the ring on April 12 in Las Vegas but has yet to name his opponent. He is choosing between Tim Bradley and Ruslan Provodnikov.

Unconfirmed reports said a couple more names are in the mix, including Robert Guerrero, but Top Rank chief Bob Arum told The STAR the Mexican-American is not in the list.

Mayweather is also scheduled to plunge back into action in May 3, but like Pacquiao he hasn’t named his opponent.

Mayweather makes twice as much as Pacquiao when he fights, and a couple of days ago the undefeated American said he will retire in September 2015.

Whoever he fights next, Pacquiao can make around $20 million, meaning he can’t be that desperate. And if he wins his next fight, he can do a couple more fights and earn as much or even more.

Even without fighting Mayweather.

Now Pacquiao, who must have donated millions to charity, is willing to fight Mayweather – for free.

He’s turning the Fight of the Century into the Fight for Charity.

“The public clamor for a Pacquiao-Mayweather bout is getting stronger. The only way he can avoid facing me in the ring is to retire from boxing,” Pacquiao said.

Both fighters need to stop the posturing and get down to business. Make the superfight everyone is still waiting for and stop playing chicken.

Floyd Mayweather wins $112,500 after Michigan State's Rose Bowl win

The Michigan State Spartans weren't the ones basking in the glory of their Rose Bowl win over Stanford. Boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. was a big winner as well.

Mayweather placed a $50,000 bet on the Spartans and won a cool $112,500. The Cardinal were 6.5 point favorites but lost 24-20.

  

 Floyd Mayweather ‏@FloydMayweather 20h
Money Michigan State wearing the Money Green. Rose Bowl Champions! I bet $50,000 to win $112,500 always bet on green! pic.twitter.com/c94UPPjuGI

It was a magical night for the Spartans and a profitable night for Mayweather.

Oscar De La Hoya to enter treatment facility, will miss Alvarez-Mayweather fight

Former world champion and the head of Golden Boy promotions Oscar De La Hoya says he will be checking into an undisclosed treatment facility for reasons unknown and won't be attending the Floyd Mayweather - Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez fight which he is promoting.

De La Hoya previously went through rehabilitation in 2011 for alcohol and cocaine abuse.

De La Hoya released this statement:

"Canelo Alvarez and I have big fights coming up this weekend. His is the ring and mine in treatment.

"I will not be at the fight to cheer Canelo to victory since I have voluntarily admitted myself into a treatment facility.

"I explained this to Canelo and he understood that my health and longterm recovery from my disease must come first.

"Thank you for your understanding. I ask for your support and privacy during this difficult time for me and my family."

You have to hope De La Hoya can win his battles with his personal demons. He was a great champion in the ring and hopefully he can continue to be one in retirement.

I don't know how it'll affect Alvarez, but it has to be in the back of his mind going into the biggest fight of his career.

Hopefully De La Hoya can overcome this obstacle.

Kobe Bryant calls Floyd Mayweather "Bobby Fischer with gloves"

After his victory over Robert Guerrero Saturday night, Floyd Mayweather impressed another fight fan from afar.

Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant was impressed with the way Mayweather handled his business. Bryant tweeted: @FloydMayweather is like Bobby Fischer with gloves #vino".

Bryant is referencing the great chess master, who many considered to be the greatest chess player of all time.

"I told him this is chess, not checkers," Mayweather said.  

Lakers teammate Metta World Peace agreed with Bryant's assesment of Mayweather.


"They have a lot in common," World Peace told Yahoo! Sports. "When you get great athletes and look at them you see these similarities in the way their mind works.

"There is this focus and mindset that comes from knowing you have the physical and technical ability to outperform your opponent, that you are starting out with that advantage already in your pocket. From there it is about executing when it matters and they have both done that time and time again."

Even after the layoff and having to shake the ring rust, Mayweather is still at the top of his game.

Mayweather might be playing Pacquiao how Sugar Ray Leonard played Marvin Hagler

Floyd Mayweather took care of business before a three month stint in the pokey by beating Miguel Cotto via unanimous decision. Mayweather acknowledged that this might've been the toughest fight he's ever had. No the focus once again turns to Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather says there are reasons he won't take the fight (Bob Arum, performance enhancing drugs), while others will always say he's scared.

Call me out on this if you want, but Mayweather is not ducking Pacquiao. He has his reasons for not taking the fight which I can agree with. But i feel he's cheating the general public by not facing what would be his biggest challenge. Everyone will say that Mayweather only decisioned Cotto and Pacquiao defeated Cotto by knockout. Ok, big deal. Mayweather has never been a knockout artist.

After reading an article on the Sugar Ray Leonard-Marvin Hagler fight on Grantland.com I see some similarties on how the supposed negotiations between Mayweather and Pacquiao are going and how Leonard  and Hagler came together.

For the longest everyone said that Leonard was ducking Hagler. Leonard had been out of the fight game for four years and Hagler was running out of contenders in the middleweight division. Leonard never thought he could beat Hagler until two things happened. First Roberto Duran took Hagler the distance and lost but according to Leonard Duran told him after the fight that he could beat Hagler. The second moment came in March of 1986 when Hagler took on challenger John "The Beast" Mugabi. Hagler took down Mugabi in an eleven round war in which Leonard was present. Hagler took a lot of punishment and Leonard saw holes in Hagler's armor which enticed him to finally take the fight. If you read the Grantland.com article everyone though Hagler was slowing down and that Mugabi would probably be his last fight. Anyone around Hagler and most boxing experts thought Hagler was near the end and that his heart wasn't in it anymore.

My assessment might not be dead on, but Mayweather will be locked up when Pacquiao fights Timothy Bradley on June 9. Now I don't know if Mayweather will be able to view the fight but maybe his uncle Roger or one of his other people will be in Las Vegas to view it for him. After Pacquiao had some trouble with Juan Manuel Marquez he might face some with Bradley even though Bradley is a heavy underdog. This might be the fight where Mayweather sees some holes in Pacquiao's game and then call him out and finally take the fight.

Fair or unfair, Mayweather will always be called a coward for not buckling in to make the fight happen. Maybe he just wants Bob Arum out of the way. With Pacquiao saying that he might retire soon and seems resigned to never fighting Mayweather. Maybe Mayweather is setting him up. I'm not giving Mayweather credit for being a mental giant in the game of human chess, but I think he might be setting a trap for him. Getting Pac-Man to talk retirement and softening him up mentally and then just saying he'll take the fight on any terms. Kind of what Hagler did to Leonard. Took the fight on any terms.

As of now it'll always remain a mystery as to why they'll never fight, but after a little bit of thought and revisionist history I figured this might be the only way the megafight boxing needs might happen. Leonard took on Hagler when many thought Hagler was at the end of his illustrious career and Mayweather might be taking the same path to a showdown with Pacquiao.

It's time to amke it happen and get it on.    

Mayweather says fighting Pacquiao is a 'health risk'

Being the showman that he is, Floyd Mayweather was out promoting his upcoming fight this Saturday against Miguel Cotto. But he wasn't talking about how great he is or how he'll outclass Cotto on Saturday. This was about why he's not taking the fight against Manny Pacquiao and how Bob Arum and Don King don't care about the health of the fighters.

Mayweather said that fighting Pacquiao would be a "health risk". He also stated that it was "basic common sense" that Pacquiao had used performance enhancing drugs.


Mayweather once again said it is "basic common sense" that Pacquiao has used performance-enhancing drugs and getting in the ring with him would be a risk to his future health.


"Health is more important than anything," Mayweather said. "Because guess what? When my career is over, if I'm hurt because of something that has happened in a fight, I can't come to you and say, 'I need (money).' "


Mayweather discussed that fans or promoters don't care of someone in the sport of boxing gets hurt and how the boxing world doesn't care if Pacquiao is using. He went on to say that King and Arum are all about the money and said the reason why he won't fight Pacquiao is that he won't forfeit his health for money.

"People say, 'We don't give a f--- if he's taking or not; we just want to see the fight. We don't give a f--- about your health and we don't give a f--- about your family.' " Mayweather said.


"I care about my family. I love my family. They're going to be there when no one else is there. When my career is over, you're all going to move on to the next one."

"Don King and Bob Arum don't see out the eyes of a fighter because they're not a fighter," Mayweather said. "All they care about is some f------ money. I care about a fighter's well being because I am a fighter.

"I know how it is to have a broken rib the rest of your life. I know how it is to piss blood. You all don't know nothing about this."

Mayweather believes that Pacquiao is using PED's and won't back down from that stance. When he breaks it down it makes some sense. I know it's a point that I've mentioned before in conversations about boxing, so I can see why Mayweather called for the Olympic style drug testing before taking the fight.

 "It took me years to get to here -- years," Mayweather said. "I'm going up in weight but I'm not walking through no damn fighters. (Pacquiao) is 106; now he decides to walk through (Miguel) Cotto? Cotto can't knock down (Shane) Mosley, but can he?"


When it comes to that point it makes sense as damning of an accusation it might be. Throughout the years in the sport of boxing when someone moved up in weight classes they sacrificed some of their power. Only a select few were able to maintain their power but not many. I don't think Mayweather is scared. In fact I think he's playing a game of human chess.  


 

Mike Tyson has thoughts on Mayweather and Pacquiao

Now days it seems that everyone has a take on the stalemate between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather.
Everyone wants to know what's the hold up that's holding up the biggest fight yet to be made.

Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson put in his two cents about Mayweather and Pacquiao and came up with a pretty extreme solution to their problem.

"I would throw them in jail if they didn’t fight. I’d have them arrested," Tyson said. "You can’t do that but that’s what I would try to do. These guys need to get locked up and find a new profession until they get their heads clear."

I think that's a bit much, but at this pace in negotiations that might be what it takes to finally get these two into the ring.

Mayweather says he offered Pacquiao $40 million for fight

There is a lot of talk about how Floyd Mayweather is ducking Manny Pacquiao, but if you ask Mayweather he'll tell you he's done all he could to make it happen in the past few months. Mayweather seems to be over the drug testing flap that initially put the superfight out to pasture. Now it's all about the money.

Mayweather won't give Pacquiao a 50-50 split and told Bob Costas that he offered $40 million to Pacquiao for a May 5th date. Manny balked and now Mayweather will fight Miguel Cotto instead.


"I tried to get it done. I tried to get it done for May 5th," Mayweather told NBC Sports' Bob Costas on "Costas Tonight." 


"It would have been Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, but, I got turned down."


Mayweather explained why he won't give Manny the 50-50 split. The main reason is that he feels Pacquiao's buy rates aren't high enough to garner a split.




"Absolutely not. I'm not giving up the split. I'm not. I can't. I can't afford to," Mayweather said. "I gave this sport my whole life. I have record-breaking numbers that I've done. He has no record-breaking numbers.

"I had done my homework, seen what he was used to making in big fights. I offered him $40 million. I told him I would wire him $20 (million) within 72 hours. I keep 100 percent of the revenue. So why would I even give a guy 50-50? 


"I'm not just the highest paid guy in the sport of boxing. I'm the highest paid athlete."

To Mayweather's credit he's trying to do something, so all the chatter about him ducking Pacquiao should quiet down. I think Mayweather has seen enough of Pacquiao to find some weaknesses to exploit. People tend to forget that Mayweather is a top notch ring general.

If the hold up id over money it would be a shame that it would be the reason why this fight doesn't happen. Is $40 million not enough. Please. You never saw Roberto Duran or Marvin Hagler say that enough wasn't being offered to take a fight.

Hearns says Pacquaio and Mayweather should "go for it"

Back in the day there wasn't a problem to get a match made in the sport of boxing. I grew up in an era of great heavyweights with a stellar middleweight/welterweight class. Fighters had no problem taking on a megafight. You  think Marvin Hagler had any second thoughts about fighting Thomas Hearns? No. It seemed that the only fighter that ducked anyone was Sugar Ray Leonard. That's another story for a different day.

Thomas Hearns fought in what is considered to be a golden age of boxing, especially the welterweight and middleweight classes. So when he hears about all this posturing and bull about why Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao won't fight, he'll say they should just "go for it".

 Hearns said Mayweather and Pacquiao need to “put it all on the line and go for it.”


“We believed in taking on all comers,” Hearns said. “Every fight wasn’t necessarily a good fight, but to us we knew we had to take the fight in order to move on. If we didn’t take a fight, we couldn’t move ahead.


“We knew we had to perform because if we didn’t do that, another man would get up on us. We never wanted anybody to have the upper hand over us. You wanted to have the upper hand.”


In other words, they were willing to take on the best to be the best because that's where the big money was. Hearns believes that Mayweather and Pacquiao will settle their differences, but every time you look up one of the two are fighting someone else. Hearns wouldn't say he's disappointed but would like the two to come together.

It’s not my concern,” he said. 


Hearns endured some tough losses but doesn't look back on his career with any regrets.


“If not, just think how fights would have been different,” he said. “You wouldn’t have had the chance to see all the fights you saw. You wouldn’t have had a chance to have all the thrills from seeing us fight, me and Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran. You would have never seen that.


“I thank God because God allowed that to happen in my time and I fought great fights.”


Too bad enough boxers today don't have the same mindset about taking on all comers.

Mayweather Issues A Twitter Challenge To Pacquiao

The world has been waiting for a Floyd Mayweather/Manny Pacquiao showdown for a few years now. I still think it won't happen until I see both of them touching gloves in the ring. This is the fight boxing needs to gain interest that it's lost over the past decade. There are a number of reasons, but the main reason is the best fighters never fight each other.

Once again Floyd Mayweather has issued a challenge to Manny Pacquiao through Twitter. How else would he do it in today's day and age. It might be for show to see if Pacquiao will take the challenge.

This challenge would be more believable if he came on tv and threw down the gauntlet. Even though Mayweather's sentence was pushed back, is scheduled to fight on May 5, and needs an opponent I have a hard time seeing this fight happen.

Michael Irvin: Mayweather Making The Brothers Look Bad

Everyone wants to see a Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather showdown. And ask anyone that Mayweather is ducking Pacquiao and you'll get an emphatic yes from some. That would include NFL Hall of Famer Michael Irvin.

Irvin is so disenchanted by the fight being put off for various reasons, that he had something to say about it. This might actually make Mayweather take the fight if you ask me.

"I like both of them but I’m telling you right now, I wish Mayweather would go ahead and fight the guy. It makes brothers look bad with all of this running."




After their respective fights against Victor Ortiz and Juan Manuel Marquez, if they both win of course, many would like to finally see them get it on. Boxing and the boxing fans that remain need this fight. The sport is dying a slow death and a Pacquiao/Mayweather bout would give it the shot in the arm that it desperately needs.  

Floyd Mayweather Has Too Much Time On His Hands

Floyd Mayweather has entirely too much time on his hands. Why do I say that? Because instead of trying to make a fight with one of the up and comers in the welterweight division or trying to negotiate a fight with Manny Pacquiao, he makes videos detailing his excessive wealth.



Come on Floyd concentrate your efforts to being the best in the ring and not making videos. If you just want to go out on top, just say so. I, for one, will understand. It looks like Mayweather is on track to be one of those boxers that will "retire" and keep coming back.  
 

Shane Mosley Feels He's Doing Mayweather's Dirty Work

While Shane Mosley was out doing some promotional work for his upcoming fight with Manny Pacquiao, Mosley said he felt he was doing Floyd Mayweather's 'dirty work' for fighting Pacquiao. I guess you can count Mosley among many that feel Mayweather is dodging Pacquiao.

"I don't know what to make of Floyd not fighting this fight. It's mind-boggling to me," said Mosley, who lost a lopsided decision to the unbeaten Mayweather last year. "It's like I said on Twitter, it feels like I'm doing Floyd's dirty work."


I'm no boxing expert, but I've seen enough of Mosley to know that he isn't doing anyone's dirty work. I can understand how he feels, since Mayweather has ducked the issue of facing Manny in the past. Mosley is taking this fight because he feels he can actually win the fight. Mosley has never shied away from fighting the best in his career. He's had his share of losses, but also has beaten some of the best in his career. He lobbied promoter Bob Arum to take this fight. So I don't want to hear about him fighting somone else's battles. I don't see that being the case. I would hate to see him be totally outmatched in this fight, which many think he will be.

Mosley thinks Mayweather hasn't fought Pacquiao because he's a lefty and Mayweather has had trouble in the past against southpaws. As time goes on I'm starting to think Mayweather really doesn't want this fight. First there was the request for Olympic style drug testing. Now there are Mayweather's legal problems that are threatning to derail the fight altogether.

Mayweather's legal problems are far different from Mike Tyson's, but it does mirror the way how Tyson went in the tank before fighting Evander Holyfield. Remember that fight was going to be made before Tyson went to prison. The fight hd to be made after Tyson's prison stint and he was never the same fighter. I'm not saying that's how Mayweather's career will go but at the rate he's going he may never see the inside of a ring again.

Which will lead others to say they're doing his 'dirty work'.

Quote Of The Week: Tony Kornheiser

I'm not a fan of what Tony Kornheiser has to say, but this was pretty clever. Here's what he had to say about NASCAR's Tony Stewart.

"He's (Stewart) been in more fights in the last two years than Floyd Mayweather Jr." 

Thing is, he's actually right sinceFloyd has been fighting the law more than anything recently.

Mayweather was Money Saturday night.

Going into Saturday night's Shane Mosley vs. Floyd Mayweather fight, i thought that Mosley had a chance of winning.I didn't say he would win,I just thought that he had power and skill that Mayweather never went up against.I felt that if Mosley could get a few good shots in early,it would force Mayweather into a brawl and that's not his style.I was partially right,as Mosley got to Mayweather early,but it was straight up "Money" the rest of the way.
    Floyd Mayweather thorouhgly dominated last night's fight with a display of speed,flair and occasional power that wore down Mosley and left him visibly tired.The first round was a feeling out process and Mosley clearly dominated the action in the second round.He rocked Mayweather with a couple of rights that left the Money Man staggering and holding on.But,Mosley was unable to finish him off.A testament to what a great fighter Mayweather is.After that Mayweather,who is known as a defensive fighter,steadily walked down Mosley and wore him out.At times it looked like Mayweather was hitting a speed bag,as he connected on numerous straight right hands that snapped Mosley's head.Mayweather also proved that he has a helluva boxing IQ that is matched by any of the fighters of today.Skeptics will say he beat an old fighter.I say that's a big bunch of bull,because no one was saying that after he Mosley stopped Antonio Margarito.For most of the night Mayweather made Mosley look amateurish and outclassed.From the eighth round on it looked like Mosley was breathing hard and looking to just finish on his feet.
  Mayweather is the class of the welterweight division and the face of boxing.He's the only man that really sells fights.The next hurdle for him should be Manny Pacquiao. But due to Mayweather's insistence on the olympic style blood and urine testing,that fight may never happen.Mayweather says he just wants to fight on a level playing field and I can understand that.And if Manny has nothing to hide,why doesn't he comply.This fight has to be made,as its the only big money megafight that could draw any interest to boxing.

Boxing needs Pacquiao vs. Mayweather to happen

Boxing is desperate for a major shot in the arm.It looked like the fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao would give the boxing game a much needed jolt.Now it looks like it might not happen due to Mayweather requesting Olympic style drug testing 48 hours before the fight.There have been plenty of good fights this year,but none that have the magnitude of Mayweather/Pacquiao.

   On the surface this seems like one of Mayweather's stunts to get inside the head of his opponent.I think it is,which is all part of boxing.Its a damn good one too.I don't agree with the testing being right before the fight,but whatever works.The ball is in Manny's court now.If he walks,it puts him under suspicion of using PEDs(performance enhancing drugs for those that don't know).That would be a career killer,something that he could never recover from.Then his promoter,Bob Arum says that Pacquiao is afraid of needles.C'MON!You gotta know this is a classic Mayweather ploy and it seems to be spooking the hell out of Pacquiao.Go ahead and agree to the testing.Boxing is already suffering because the lack of megafights.Arum wants a different doping agency than USADA since he claims they aren't flexible.Pacquiao needs the fight more than Mayweather and should take it unless he has something to hide and will be fighting under the cloud of suspicion from here on out.True,Mayweather is being an ass in all of this and maybe he's trying to dodge Manny.We might not ever know,because Paulie Malignaggi could take Floyd's spot on March 13 and that would be the proverbial nail in the coffin for the proposed superfight.The power's that be in boxing need to make this happen.