Floyd Mayweather has a new opponent, a new date and a new city. He posted a fight poster to Instagram on Sunday night claiming he’ll face Australian boxer Matt Floyd in an exhibition on December 19 in Bangkok. In the caption he framed it as a warm-up for something much bigger: “This is a lil tune-up before me and Ryan Garcia lock up.”
That bigger thing is a fully sanctioned professional bout with WBC welterweight champion Ryan Garcia, which has been the dominant Mayweather talk over the last few weeks. Garcia has already put a date on it, announcing February 6 and saying his opponent will be either Mayweather or Teofimo Lopez. Bloody Elbow also flagged that Garcia has confirmed talks for a Mayweather super-fight are underway.
Who Is Matt Floyd
Fair question, because this one came from way out of left field. Floyd is a six-foot light-heavyweight with a 15-2 professional record, which Bloody Elbow described as dubious. He also holds the Misfits Boxing light-heavyweight title, which he picked up after what the outlet called a bizarre incident in June.
The two men share one opponent. Floyd beat Shane Mosley in an exhibition, and Mosley is a name Mayweather fans will recognize. That’s about where the overlap ends. Mayweather has spent his career around welterweight, and now he’s lining up a guy who competes at light-heavyweight in his own lane.
The Track Record This Year
By Bloody Elbow’s count, this is the fourth bout Mayweather has agreed to, signed for and announced in 2026. None of the first three have happened.
- Mike Tyson: booked on multiple dates this year.
- Mike Zambidis: the kickboxer was supposed to face him in Greece in June.
- Manny Pacquiao: Netflix announced that one for September.
There’s litigation hanging over many of those deals. As recently as a few weeks ago, Mayweather was telling fans that Wynn Records would revive the Zambidis fight. Now Zambidis is apparently out and a Misfits champion from Australia is in.
Sal’s Take
I’ve been doing this long enough to know what a 0-for-3 hitter looks like, and Mayweather in 2026 is a 0-for-3 hitter swinging at a fourth pitch. If a book hung a prop on whether he actually steps through the ropes in Bangkok on December 19, I’d want a very fat plus number before I touched the yes side, and I’ve lost money on dumber things (a 12-leg parlay of favorites in 2019 comes to mind, and I’d rather not discuss it). The Garcia side of this is more interesting, because Garcia picked a date and kept Lopez as his fallback, so he’s covered whether Mayweather shows up or doesn’t. That’s the guy reading the room correctly. A tune-up only counts as a tune-up if it happens, and until somebody posts weigh-in photos from Bangkok, this is a fourth poster in a stack of three.
