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Floyd Mayweather has told his team he'll be fighting twice in 2013, according to Leonard Ellerbe in a report at ESPN.com, and has his two dates selected already: May 4 and September 14, the two annual huge boxing weekends in the U.S. and Mexico.
"Mayweather Promotions is looking forward to these two gigantic Floyd Mayweather events in 2013, and we are in ongoing discussions with our promotional partner, Richard Schaefer (chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions) in finalizing the opponent and other aspects of the upcoming promotion."
Mayweather (43-0, 26 KO) last fought on May 5, beating Miguel Cotto over 12 rounds in Las Vegas. Canelo Alvarez recently said that Mayweather wanted to fight in February, but this news may open up the idea of Mayweather facing Canelo on May 4. Alvarez also wants that fight date, and Golden Boy wants to give it to him.
That would also mean -- unless something really huge in the U.S. TV industry goes down -- that Alvarez would be back working with HBO, after he had a successful September fight on Showtime. Most figured that the proposed Canelo vs Cotto fight on May 4 would be a Showtime pay-per-view event, but Mayweather has repeatedly stated a loyalty to HBO, the bigger of the two major boxing broadcasters, though that gap seems to be closing more and more.
If he does not fight Canelo, Floyd would most likely be fighting Robert Guerrero, who recently was impressive in a win over Andre Berto. That could put Golden Boy in a bind with Canelo, or they could just go for the gusto and put Mayweather and Canelo on the same PPV broadcast in different fights, and hope to set up a mega-fight for September. That would make a lot of sense, and would be a ballsy move by GBP, as they would be leaving some money on the table combining the two now that Canelo can carry a show without Mayweather. (Not to the same degree, mind you, but money is left on the table there.)
If Canelo doesn't get Floyd, it seems his next opponent could be Austin Trout, who just defeated Cotto this past Saturday, and was called a "great choice" by Canelo after that.