After disappointing droves of fans who shelled out nearly $100 for Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s one-sided victory over Manny Pacquiao in which neither fighter was ever in much danger of being hurt, Mayweather has officially decided on Andre Berto for a September 12 fight. This bout is supposed to be the last of Mayweather’s career, and it has left boxing fans and people within the sport with a sour taste in their mouths.
In the last few weeks Berto has taken tremendous heat for being Mayweather’s choice. The scorn comes from Berto’s 3-3 record over his past six fights that includes two losses to previous Mayweather opponents. Berto is a former champion, but he has been held up as well as an example of a fighter that was signed by Premier Boxing Champions founder Al Haymon and coddled to a belt.
The welterweight division is one of boxing’s glamour weight classes, and it is loaded with compelling fights. There are also other fights that could have been made that would be much worse on paper, but also more interesting to the boxing public. These are five of those fights.
Oscar De La Hoya (39-6-0, 30 KO)
There were rumors that De La Hoya, the president of Golden Boy Promotions, may come out of retirement to face Mayweather in a rematch of their 2007 blockbuster. Most laughed it off, while some worriedly thought it may be true. Now that Mayweather is signed on to fight Berto, De La Hoya doesn’t seem too bad.
De La Hoya would be given almost no chance to win by oddsmakers, but is that different than Berto? There’s a history of real animosity between Mayweather and De La Hoya, and when they did fight it was one of the most competitive fights in Mayweather’s career. Oscar would bring it to the ring, and while he’d be outclassed, the buildup would have been phenomenal.
Shane Mosley (47-9-1, 39 KO)
Mosley is actually fighting on August 29 against Ricardo Mayorga, but who is to say that he wouldn’t fare better than Berto? Mosley is claiming to be healed up from a number of injuries that affected him later in his career and contributed to lackluster performances, such as his no-show vs. Manny Pacquiao in 2011.
He is also one of the only fighters in history to truly rock Mayweather; he should have been credited with a knockdown of Mayweather in 2010 when Mayweather’s glove touched the canvas after a hard shot. Mosley’s even older than De La Hoya is, but we’d all be more interested in this one.
Adrien Broner (30-2-0, 22 KO)
Broner is Mayweather’s protégé and once said he wouldn’t fight him because he didn’t want to hand Mayweather his first loss. Now, this fight would be compelling simply because of the antics that would lead up to it. Broner has become the clown prince of the sport, and arguably lost the three fights in his career against top-level (his split decision vs. Paulie Malignaggi was controversial), but Mayweather is aiming for the box office, not the best competition. This would draw eyeballs.
Victor Ortiz (30-5-2, 23 KO)
Why not a rematch with Victor Ortiz? Since Mayweather knocked out Ortiz (sucker punched, some might call it) his career has been on a shocking nose dive. He was KO’d by Mayweather, had his jaw broken by Josesito Lopez, a massive underdog, then returned 18 months later to be knocked out in the second round by another huge underdog, Luis Collazo.
And yet, he may still have a better claim to fight Mayweather because he has already beaten Berto in the past, and because of the way he lost. Ortiz was being outclassed when he fought Mayweather; realistically, resorting to intentional head butts as early as the fourth round is a problem. But Ortiz is a character, and has name value after appearing in a few movies like Expendables 3 and Southpaw.
Gennady Golovkin (33-0-0, 30 KO)
Sadly, this is probably the most unrealistic matchup of them all. Golovkin badly wants to face Mayweather and is willing to drop six pounds to junior middleweight—where Mayweather already has a title—and despite being one of boxing’s biggest current draws.
Golovkin is a knockout artist desperate for a major head to place on his mantle, but Mayweather simply will not take the risk. After facing Pacquiao and soundly defeating him, Golovkin is the only name left that can generate real buzz. Contenders like Amir Khan and Keith Thurman are deserving of the chance, but they are unlikely to create much more buzz than Berto. The truth is, Mayweather has been so dominant it is tough for the public to care who comes next. Golovkin would make people care, but he’d also be a legitimate threat to Mayweather’s perfect record.
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