Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
Credible reports coming from TMZ Sports have the boxing pound-for-pound great planning two superfights for next year.
Floyd Mayweather will be fighting again in 2020, but who exactly does he plan on facing? That’s the billion dollar question that’s hung in the air since “Money” officially announced the end of his latest retirement Thursday night on Instagram.
Bookies have gone so far as to take money on what’s next, with Manny Pacquiao being the most likely while Conor McGregor sits far down the list with 10-1 odds. Now thanks to a report from TMZ Sports, we have our first report of what Mayweather’s plans are.
According to the undisputed champion of celebrity gossip sites, Floyd Mayweather wants to fight twice in 2020, once against an opponent in boxing and once in what TMZ Sports describes as a ‘UFC crossover.’ Don’t get too excited about the possibility of Floyd stepping into the Octagon, though. The 50-0 pugilist is infamous for never taking a fight he couldn’t win, and an MMA fight in the UFC definitely qualifies.
That means we’re probably going to see Mayweather face off against another UFC fighter in a boxing ring. And while that’ll leave a lot of people from both the boxing and MMA world rolling their eyes, consider the hottest opponent for Floyd right now would be Jorge Masvidal, who is a pretty big 170 pounder. Conor McGregor was the bigger man against Floyd. Masvidal would be positively huge! That’s how we expect Mayweather and the UFC to sell you the pay-per-view, at least.
As for a boxing opponent, TMZ Sports was told a rematch with Manny Pacquiao is being ‘seriously considered.’ That’s the obvious opponent as far as we’re concerned. The first Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight still stands as the biggest fight in combat sports history, and many still wonder how Pacquiao would have fared if he hadn’t gone into the fight with a shoulder injury that hampered his performance. And while Pacquiao isn’t quite as flashy and dominant as he was in his prime, he’s still out there winning fights and looking good. Mayweather hasn’t faced a real boxing opponent since Andre Berto in September of 2015.
So what do you think, Maniacs? Are you excited for Floyd Mayweather’s return or dreading the amount of headlines he’s going to generate outboxing another hapless UFC fighter?