It
was officially announced on Tuesday morning that Floyd Mayweather Jr., who was granted
his license in Nevada after a short dog-and-pony show in front of the NSAC,
will face Miguel Cotto on May 5th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
To
some, this bout is about four or five years too late. Others will welcome this
match-up much more than fights against Saul Alvarez or Robert Guerrero, which
were also discussed. Either way, with two of the big three pay-per-view
franchises and attractions involved, this will do big numbers regardless- just
like Manny Pacquiao's date against Tim Bradley will on June 9th.
Yeah, yeah, I know all about the talk of supposed boycotts and the backlash
against Mayweather and Pacquiao for not facing each other. The bottom line is
this- both are now self-sustaining businesses with vast fan bases that will support
them nonetheless.
These
upcoming events will do well despite the uproar from a very small minority.
And
for all this hysterical talk that this fight has lost steam, well, perhaps from
a pure boxing standpoint, that is true. After all, both men are well into their
30s. But remember, when Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson finally met in 2002 (at
least five years past its sell-buy date as a prizefight), that pay-per-view did
record numbers of well over two million buys, not topped until Mayweather faced
Oscar De La Hoya in 2007.
LETTER
OF INTENT FLURRIES
My
understanding is that Mayweather made Cotto an offer he couldn't refuse (as
they were really running out of options) and Cotto informed Top Rank Tuesday
night of his decision to take the fight. I'm told he has not signed any long-term
agreement with anyone...Lance Pugmire (@latimespugmire) tweeted that Alvarez
will appear on the Mayweather-Cotto undercard...Al Golden and his staff did a
great job of recruiting under the current circumstances. My hat’s off...By the
way, recruiting coverage sure has come a long way since you had to buy the USA Today the day after to catch up on
all the classes across the country...R.I.P. Don Cornelius and Angelo Dundee...
I can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com and I tweet at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing.
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