After Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s defeat of Manny Pacquaio, the fighter took home a record-breaking purse. The only question is who will go up against him? Floyd Mayweather's next fight has apparently already been scheduled, and there is a lot of speculation of who his next opponent will be.
According to Heavy.com, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Mayweather Productions have kicked off their preparations for what could be the champion's last fight by requesting a September 12, 2015 event that will be Pay Per View and take place in the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. In case you need your memory refreshed, this was the same place where Mayweather took down Manny Pacquaio in the new "Fight of the Century".
The only question remains is who Mayweather will be facing in the ring. Showtime Sports executive vice president and general manager Stephen Espinoza has stated that "we will be getting into discussions about an opponent for him [Mayweather] very quickly" and "we will look to ride the momentum of this event and capitalize on the fact that Floyd has now distinguished himself as the fighter of the era". If Mayweather is victorious in his September fight, then he could be a superior fighter of the era as he will tie the legendary Rocky Marciano's undefeated record of 49-0.
It is possible that British welterweight Amir Khan, who just beat Chris Algieri in a unanimous decision, wants to take on the number one fighter in the world. According to Business Insider, Khan told announcer Jimmy Smith after the Algieri fight: "I'm the No.1 WBC contender, Mayweather's the champion, let's make it happen". Khan has also apparently told Press Association Sport that negotiations between the two camps have escalated, and a potential fight is closer than ever before.
Sports World News reports that former champion Prince Naseem Hamed believes that Mayweather is ducking British-born fighter Amir Khan. Hamed states that "Amir might give Mayweather a harder fight than his last 10 opponents because he's got fast hands and I would love for Amir to win that fight". It is because of these "fast hands" is the factor that makes Hamed believe that Mayweather is avoiding the fight.
The International Business Times states that after Mayweather earned approximately $200 million in the highest-grossing-pay-per-view of all time, there isn't an opponent who will help him make anywhere close to that much money in his next bout. The most profitable potential fight would be against Canelo Alvarez. When the two faced off in September 2013, it was then the most top grossing boxing match ever at $150 million and 2.2 million PPV buy-ins.
Alvarez might not have been that much competition for Mayweather two years ago, when last they fought, but there is a clear link between the rise of Alvarez's popularity with the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout. Alverez's vs. Erislandy Lara only generated 325,000 PPV buys, but the May 9th fight against James Kirkland was seen by an average 2.146 million viewers on HBO.
Another option for an opponent for Mayweather could be Miguel Cotto, who is facing Daniel Geale on Saturday. They have met before and Mayweather made $32 million guaranteed, with PPV of 1.5 million buys.
Whatever the case, it doesn't appear that Mayweather will be doing any rematch with Pacquiao anytime soon. According to ESPN, he was willing to face off with Pacquaio but changed his mind, saying: "At this particular time, no, because he's a sore loser and he's a coward".
It would be very difficult to top the money that Mayweather made with Pacquaio, and no one is certain if any opponents besides a rematch with Pacquiao would bring in that much money and PPV buys. We'll have to see who the next opponent will be.
