Floyd Mayweather’s Next Fight: Wants Pacquiao, Canelo Out, Cotto Rematch Possible

It wasn’t exactly a shock when Floyd Mayweather said that he wants to finally get a fight with Manny Pacquiao made following his great win in a tough fight over Miguel Cotto. It also wasn’t a surprise when Floyd evaded actually answering the question when HBO’s Larry Merchant asked if he would be willing to budge on his prior statements that he wouldn’t give Manny a 50/50 purse split.

The fact that Floyd isn’t likely to ever agree to a 50/50 split with anyone, and Top Rank, Manny’s promoter, isn’t likely to ever agree to anything less, is going to always stand in the way of that fight. And if it isn’t the 50/50 split, it’ll be something else.

Coming into the evening, it was believed that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who drubbed Shane Mosley on the undercard, would be put into the next Mayweather bout. But HBO’s broadcast team said that they were told by Oscar De La Hoya, Canelo’s promoter via Golden Boy Promotions, that Canelo wasn’t quite ready to take that step. Given that Alvarez is only 21 years old and is already basically a cash cow for Golden Boy, it’s not surprising that they’re not quite ready to rush him into a fight that is probably a little over his head at this point.

The most attractive option may be a rematch with Cotto. Miguel was able to put on a tremendous challenge, doing enough to convince much of the live crowd that he deserved the victory. In the end, Mayweather did deserve the decision and it wasn’t controversial in the least. But Cotto is still a superstar and he made Floyd fight like no one has in a long time, actually getting a great fight out of the usually cautious Mayweather.

There are a few other options, like facing the winner of Andre Berto vs. Victor Ortiz, but I don’t think a rematch with the mentally fragile Ortiz does much for business and Berto isn’t quite on Floyd’s level.

The Cotto rematch would give Canelo a bit more time to get to where Golden Boy wants him before throwing him in to the deep end while still having a huge fight for Floyd. This makes it the best option and certainly a lot more likely than a bout with Pacquiao.

Of course, Floyd has a bit of jail time to serve before he’s really worrying about who he will step into the ring with next. So it may be a little bit before we know what’s next for sure.

Regardless, Mayweather left us with a great fight that will have boxing fans very excited to find out what comes next.