By Rick Reeno
Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Showtime Sports, indicates that Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26KOs) is very close to making an official announcement regarding his next fight, which is scheduled to take place on September 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
"Personally I believe that it will be announced this week, possibly next week. But we're getting close," Espinoza told BoxingScene.com.
Last week, TMZ jumped the gun by announcing that a fight between Mayweather and Andre Berto was officially agreed upon. Make no mistake, Berto is the frontrunner but there are still a few loose ends that need to get tied.
"Nothing has been finalized yet. As soon as everything is finalized, an announcement will come immediately. There are a lot of details that have to be finalized and there are a lot of people working to get [Mayweather's next fight] done as soon as possible," Espinoza said.
The biggest question for Mayweather's next fight - is the outlet. Initially, the idea of placing Mayweather's next fight on network television, on CBS, was being discussed. It would have stamped Mayweather's first bout outside of a pay-per-view platform in a decade.
The biggest issue with making a Mayweather fight or any major fight on network television, is planning it way in advance. The advertising slots on network television are usually sold several months in advance of a certain quarter or time period. That complicates things in terms of selling the advertising for Mayweather's fight.
Mayweather was last seen in action on May 2nd, winning a decision over Manny Pacquiao, and even during this time period CBS could have already sold a decent chunk of ad slots for the second Saturday of September.
"Network television operates under a different timetable, particular in terms of selling ads. From network TV....we're talking six, eight, ten months in advance - and not six, eight or ten weeks in advance [like a pay-per-view event]. In some ways selling ads to a one-off event, even if its the biggest one-off event that boxing has to offer, is a challenge for network television," Espinoza said.
Mayweather has yet to make an official decision regarding the platform to carry his next fight - network television or pay-per-view.
Espinoza was unable to confirm which direction Mayweather was leaning, but a source with knowledge of the negotiations advised BoxingScene that Mayweather's fight was "98%" locked in as a pay-per-view event.
"Part of what's been going on is that Floyd is evaluating each option and I expect an answer from him pretty quickly," Espinoza said
