By Phil D. Jay
Golden Boy boss Oscar De La Hoya was revealed that WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. is aiming to arrange three bouts in 2012 as he looks to keep busy into his 35th year.
De La Hoya, who was attending a recent charity night organized by friend and Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.I.Am, told the waiting press of Mayweather’s intentions and also called on WBO champion Manny Pacquiao to accept a super-fight with the American.
“We have just finalized Floyd Mayweather v Miguel Cotto for May 5th so we are excited about that,” said De La Hoya. “He (Mayweather) will be fighting, I believe three times this year so he is excited and I am happy to be working with him. We are just trying to make the big fights happen. Hopefully we can nail down the Pacquiao fight real soon. Pacquiao just has to agree to fight because Mayweather wants to fight him.”
Pacquiao, 33, has recently signed on to face stablemate Timothy Bradley and his promoter, Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum, has made it clear that he sees no reason why the two fighters can’t agree to meet in November.
Mayweather has a 90-day prison sentence to squeeze into what will be a crammed year for the five-weight world champion. In connection to a plea agreement for a domestic abuse charge, Mayweather will start his sentence on June 1 in Las Vegas, which makes it nearly impossible to squeeze in three fights - based on the scheduling and the amount of time which is necessary to properly promote each pay-per-view.
Phil D. Jay covers boxing for worldboxingnews.net
