Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. admitted this week what many have long suspected — that he handpicks every opponent who enters the ring with him.
He also decides how much they get paid and what the contract details will be. So Robert Guerrero was somewhat prepared when Mayweather picked him to be the opponent for his first fight in a year on Saturday night at the MGM Grand hotel.
What he wasn’t prepared for was what Mayweather’s camp insisted on putting in the contract.
“He asked for a rematch clause. That was the very first thing,” Guerrero said. “It just shows me where his head is at.”
Mayweather’s thinking has, of course, been the topic of many conversations over the years. When he fought last May against Miguel Cotto, the worry among his fans was that he would be distracted by an upcoming jail sentence, though that turned out to be unfounded.
Talk to Mayweather now, and his head seems to be fine. So, too, are his reflexes at the age of 36, at least judged by a sparring session last week where he practiced landing right-hand leads against a fighter mimicking Guerrero’s southpaw style.
He has to lose sometime, because nearly every fighter not named Rocky Marciano lost at some point in their career. But Mayweather has a new six-fight television deal that should cement his status as the world’s highest paid athlete, and he doesn’t seem terribly concerned about a loss or a possible rematch of their welterweight title fight.
“I’ve done this my whole life,” Mayweather said. “This is what I love to do.”
Though Mayweather sees Guerrero as just the latest opponent for yet another huge payday, Guerrero sees things quite differently. He believes he is the fighter who will be the first to beat Mayweather, and he’s eager to earn both the recognition and the money that would come with such a win.
At the final pre-fight news conference Wednesday, he said Mayweather made a mistake by picking him as an opponent.
“They talk about this as Floyd Mayweather’s home,” Guerrero said. “Well, this is a home invasion.”
Oddsmakers don’t share Guerrero’s confidence, making the former champion in three weight classes a decided underdog in the biggest fight of his career. But the once-beaten (31-1-1) fighter from Gilroy, Calif., said he’s been underestimated his entire career.
“The only thing that means something is what you do in that ring,” he said. “I just can’t wait to get in that ring.”
