By Chris Robinson
The rumors have been swirling from the left and right of a possible ring return later this year by undefeated superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. By this point it always seems to be nothing more than hearsay in regards to the ring return of Mayweather, who hasn't fought since his drubbing of Shane Mosley last May, but it makes for interesting banter, if anything else.
Recently I spoke with Roger Mayweather, uncle and trainer of Floyd Jr., regarding a possible return to the ring.
"He will. Yeah, he will come back this year," Roger told me and my colleague Sabrina Montez. "I don't know when, probably by end of summer it will be his next fight. He's got a deal with, what's his name, Jim Jones, Jerry Jones? I mean, he's planning on resuming his career."
Jerry Jones of course is the owner and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys franchise and last year put his gigantic Cowboys Stadium into the boxing headlines by staging Manny Pacquiao's ring conquests against Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito in the stadium. Roger confirmed that Floyd has his eye on the same venue for a potential bout of his own.
"That's where he's going to fight," said Roger.
For the past few years Mayweather has been linked to Pacquiao in a fight that would be one of the biggest in the sport's history. But Roger says that Floyd would be eyeing a tune up first and said it would have to be someone with a name, even mentioning the likes of newly-crowned WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz and Puerto Rico's Miguel Cotto in recent weeks.
It's no secret that many insiders feel Mayweather is full of jealousy after seeing Pacquiao snatch the pound-for-pound mantle that he held for many years. Hearing rumors of Floyd fighting in Cowboys Stadium instantly make you wonder if he would be trying to upstage Pacquiao, who drew pay-per-view draws of 700,000 and 1.15 million for his bouts with Clottey and Margarito, respectively, while drawing over 40,000 partisans each time out.
Mayweather, a proven box-office sell over the years, would have a great chance at breaking those marks but even Roger can recognize that Floyd's goal isn't about showing up Pacquiao; it's about one day facing him in the ring.
"I don't think it's that. I think it's a different audience for him. It's a place he hasn't really seen or fought in. I think it's going to be an outstanding crowd for him to go in there and fill that stadium up, see how many people he can draw. But that's going to make it that much better to draw it to the fight for Pacquiao.