By Rick Reeno
Stephen Espinoza, the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Showtime Sports and Event Programming, has jumped on board with a limited few who believe Floyd Mayweather Jr. is indeed retiring from the sport.
This past Saturday night, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Mayweather raised his record to 49-0 with a one-sided twelve round decision win over Andre Berto.
The Showtime Pay-Per-View headliner was pushed as the final bout of Mayweather's 19 year career.
The fight was also the final contractual obligation of Mayweather's exclusive six fight contract with Showtime/CBS.
"I've come around over the last six to seven weeks. At one point I was sort of skeptical, but right now I think he is fully committed to retirement. I don't know what will happen in a year, 18 months or two years - if he gets a little bored, but I think what he's thinking now is that it's been 19 years of hard work and grinding and it's just time. He just answered the last challenge in his career in defeated Manny Pacquiao. I think after 19 years he feels that he's done it all," Espinoza told BoxingScene.com.
Last week, Mayweather told BoxingScene that he received several 'nine figure' offers to continue fighting.
Espinoza confirms the offers, but says Showtime/CBS was not one of the entities to put money on the table. While the Showtime exec hints at having minor conversations on the subject, he indicates that Mayweather had no interest in entertaining discussions to continue fighting.
The majority of the offers have come from investors who are looking to stage major events outside of the United States.
"We haven't gotten to the level of finances, because its not something that Floyd wanted to pursue. If its something that Floyd wanted to entertain, then sure we would talk about numbers. All of the offers we've gotten, have been from the usual guys coming out from the woodwork from foreign territories. If anyone can make an event in Africa or Dubai or Abu Dhabi - Floyd can make [the event] huge so I understand why they are making the offers," Espinoza said.
