Pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. announced Tuesday that he would return to the ring on May 4th to fight Robert Guerrero.
Mayweather (43-0, 26 KOs) will defend his welterweight world title against interim titlist Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, which will be Mayweather’s seventh consecutive fight at that location.
But the most surprising announcement that Mayweather made on Tuesday was he was ending his 23-fight run with HBO/Time Warner, where most of his fights had been seen, to sign with rival Showtime/CBS for the pay-per-view fight.
The 35-year-old Mayweather, who will turn 36 on Sunday, signed a six-fight, 30-month deal with Showtime/CBS.
“Floyd has signed a record-breaking deal with Showtime PPV/CBS, and Floyd is ecstatic,” Leonard Ellerbe, one of Mayweather’s top advisers, told ESPN.com. “This historic deal reflects a global superstar who is head and shoulders above his peers. HBO, they made a great offer, but the Showtime PPV/CBS offer was substantially greater in every facet, from top to bottom.”
Ellerbe would not divulge the details of the deal.
“The first fight is Guerrero, ‘The Ghost,’ the boogey man,” Ellerbe said. “Floyd’s going to line all these guys up and he’s going to whup their asses one by one.”
Mayweather will step in the ring on May 4th having not fought in 364 days. His last fight came on May 5, 2012, against Miguel Cotto. Mayweather knocked out Cotto with what some would deem a “sucker punch.” Shortly after that fight he served two months in jail after his conviction in a misdemeanor domestic battery case.
“He has a renewed motivation to stay active and to take on everybody out there,” Ellerbe said. “When Floyd is more active, he’s going to be beyond untouchable. He’s proved he can stay sharp with those layoffs in the past, but he’s going to be more active now.”
“On May 4th I’m going to shock the world,” Guerrero tweeted after the announcement.
Guerrero was able to beat out several other potential contenders. Ellerbe said that Mayweather chose Guerrero because of his toughness and crowd-pleasing style. Guerrero, who is a onetime featherweight champion, has not lost since 2005. His last fight came in November last year beating welterweight Andre Berto in a thrilling fight.
“Robert can box, he can punch, he has chin,” Golden Boy Promotions chief executive Richard Schaefer, who promotes Guerrero, told ESPN.com. “He has a hell of a chance to win this fight. When you look at Floyd Mayweather, he’s the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He’s the most skilled fighter out there, but at the same time he’s getting older and hasn’t fought in year.”
Guerrero will have his shot to shock the world, but will be the heavy underdog to Mayweather.
