With an opponent yet to be named and less than eight weeks to go, it's becoming clear that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will not be making his return to the ring on March 13th. "I haven't seen Lil Floyd. He's taking it easy right now I guess," commented his father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., during a recent conversation with FightHype's own Percy Crawford over the weekend. In fact, sources say that it's been quite some time since Mayweather, who's known for being a gym rat, has been around the Mayweather Boxing Club, choosing instead to spend his time enjoying the Vegas nightlife.
On Tuesday, promoter Bob Arum will host a press conference to announce Manny Pacquiao's own March 13th welterweight title defense against Joshua Clottey. Several insiders say that HBO will also officially announce their involvement in the Top Rank promotion and their plans to produce the pay-per-view event. If true, that only strengthens the belief that a March 13th bout for Mayweather is being scrapped. Furthermore, earlier today, a reliable source informed me, "Shane just needs to handle his business against Berto." Although the source did not elaborate on the meaning of that statement, it's fairly easy to draw your own conclusions.
With no real viable pay-per-view worthy opponents, it looks like Mayweather will forego fighting on the March 13th date in hopes of a potential big money showdown with "Sugar" Shane Mosley, provided Mosley does his job and gets past the undefeated Andre Berto on January 30th. It's rumored that there's already been preliminary talks between Team Mayweather, Golden Boy Promotions and HBO regarding a Mayweather vs. Mosley clash on May 1st, but again, the rumors have yet to be confirmed or denied. Phone calls to Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather's adviser and CEO of Mayweather Promotions, have yet to be returned.
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