Mayweather back in action
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is coming out of retirement, a less-than-stunning revelation that catches absolutely no one by surprise.
Coming off last month’s victory over Oscar De La Hoya in the richest non-heavyweight fight ever, Mayweather has entered into negotiations with Ricky Hatton for a pay-per-view bout.
Tentative date: Nov. 10. Logical site: Las Vegas.
Biggest roadblock: Money.
Hatton, whose hometown is Manchester, England, is coming off his biggest triumph in America, a fourth-round knockout of Jose Luis Castillo last Saturday in Las Vegas to retain his International Boxing Organization junior-welterweight title. Hatton received $2.5 million for that match. Mayweather got approximately $15 million for the De La Hoya fight.
“If we can reach agreement on the money, there’s no reason it can’t happen,” said Art Pelulo, Hatton’s American promoter.
Another potential obstacle to a November match was cleared Wednesday when Ray Hatton, Ricky’s father, and promoter Frank Warren reached a settlement of a libel suit that could have tied up the Hattons in an English courtroom into the fall.
Nobody took Mayweather seriously when he insisted he was going to walk away from boxing at 30, at the peak of his game, at a time when he is almost universally acclaimed the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
“What prompted [negotiations with Hatton] is, over the last couple of weeks, Ricky Hatton has been saying a lot about Floyd Mayweather,” said Leonard Ellerbee, Mayweather’s manager. “He’s used Floyd’s name to promote himself, and then he said ... Saturday night that he had more excitement in four rounds than Floyd had in his career. To say that ... is very disrespectful. Floyd heard him say that on HBO, and said, ‘OK, be careful what you ask for.’ He’s calling Hatton’s bluff, and now the whole world will see if this guy wants to fight and sign a contract now. ... We can definitely make it happen this year. The ball’s in their court.”
Presumably Mayweather also heard that De La Hoya called Hatton after the fight to congratulate him. That might have spurred Mayweather to end his much-ridiculed retirement.
De La Hoya hasn’t decided if he’ll retire. But he said Monday, “Ricky Hatton and I could fill [England’s] Wembley Stadium.”
Times staff writer Lance Pugmire contributed to this story.
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