Floyd Mayweather says he’s fighting again next month. On Sunday evening he posted a fight poster to Instagram announcing an exhibition against Australian boxer Matt Floyd on December 19 in Bangkok, Bloody Elbow reported, with MiddleEasy also confirming the date and venue city.
Mayweather was explicit that Bangkok is a warmup act. In the same post he wrote, “This is a lil tune-up before me and Ryan Garcia lock up.” That lines up with the chatter of recent weeks, which has centered on Mayweather coming back for a fully sanctioned professional bout against Garcia, the current WBC welterweight champion.
The opponent is the part that made people squint. Matt Floyd carries a 15-2 professional record that Bloody Elbow described as dubious, and he’s a six-foot light heavyweight. 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 Floyds do share a common opponent in Shane Mosley, whom the Australian beat in an exhibition. So Mayweather’s stated plan is to prepare for a welterweight champion by sharing a ring with a light heavyweight. Sparring partners usually get picked the other way around.
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The Schedule Problem
Bangkok is the fourth bout Mayweather has agreed to, signed for and announced this year, according to Bloody Elbow. None of the first three have happened. He was set to meet Mike Tyson on multiple dates. He was booked against kickboxer Mike Zambidis in Greece in June. Netflix announced a Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao bout for September. Bloody Elbow noted that litigation still hangs over many of those deals. As recently as the last few weeks, Mayweather had been telling fans that Wynn Records would revive the Zambidis fight, and now Zambidis appears to have been swapped out for a guy nobody had on their bingo card.
Garcia, for his part, has already planted a flag. He announced a February 6 date and said he’ll be fighting either Mayweather or Teofimo Lopez that night. Bloody Elbow separately ran a report headlined “Ryan Garcia confirms Floyd Mayweather super-fight talks have begun,” so both sides are at least saying the same name out loud.
The nostalgia department got its own reminder of what Mayweather used to be this weekend. Top Rank marked the anniversary of his 2003 knockout of Phillip N’dou on November 1, a fight from a version of Mayweather who showed up on the dates printed on the poster.
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My take: I’ll believe in Bangkok when there’s a weigh-in photo. A man who has announced three fights this year without throwing a punch in any of them doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt on a fourth, and the matchmaking logic here is upside down. If Mayweather actually wants Garcia, a light heavyweight exhibition seven weeks before Garcia’s February 6 date teaches him nothing useful about a fast welterweight. Watch December 19. If Mayweather walks out in Bangkok, the Garcia talk gets real. If the poster quietly disappears like the last three, Garcia has Lopez as his fallback for February.
