By Keith Idec
No matter how much the speculation persists, Stephen Espinoza can’t take the thought of Floyd Mayweather Jr. competing in mixed martial arts seriously.
The Showtime executive, with whom Mayweather has a close relationship, doesn’t expect the 40-year-old Mayweather to box again, either. Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) retired for the third time following his 10th-round stoppage of UFC superstar Conor McGregor on August 26 in Las Vegas, but rumors continue to circulate regarding Mayweather making a deal with UFC president Dana White to compete in MMA (https://www.boxingscene.com/white-claims-hes-meeting-with-mayweathers-team-talk-deal--123812).
Those rumors mostly have been dismissed as a collaborative publicity stunt by White and Mayweather, who could work together by co-promoting boxing cards.
Espinoza told BoxingScene.com on Thursday that, based on Mayweather’s lengthy list of accomplishments and his extremely healthy financial situation, he doesn’t think Mayweather would pursue MMA matches.
“Floyd is always interested in breaking records and new business endeavors,” said Espinoza, Showtime Sports’ executive vice president and general manager. “Taking up an entirely new sport or new combat disciplines this far into his career, I don’t see that happening. Having said that, Floyd is tough to predict. He’s his own man and makes his own decisions, so nothing would surprise me. Although, if I had to rank the things that Floyd is likely to do in the near future, fighting in MMA wouldn’t be very high on the list.”
The former five-division champion has come out of retirement twice to box – first for a fight against Juan Manuel Marquez in September 2009, then for the McGregor spectacle. Espinoza doesn’t expect it to happen a third time.
“I don’t really see him fighting again,” Espinoza said. “Including the time off, it’s been a career of 22 years. He’s done the three biggest pay-per-views of all-time – or we have them, because they were Showtime fights. He has sort of taken on every challenge and I think he’s at a point where he’s pretty satisfied in retirement. I know I would be. And it looks like his travel calendar is pretty busy, too, so I’m not sure he’s got a whole lot of time, let alone interest.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
