Why Floyd Mayweather v Andre Berto will NOT be Floyd's last fight

As has been reported to the sound of widespread groans for months now, Floyd Mayweather’s 49th professional fight will be against Andre Berto on September 12th in Las Vegas.

It is the final fight on Mayweather’s six-fight deal with US broadcaster Showtime. Ever since he signed the contract, Floyd has been adamant that he will retire at its conclusion.

However, it’s very likely that he will not. And that’s part of the reason why the unbeaten welterweight has rather shamelessly handpicked an uninspiring name who is 3-3 in his last six fights for his ‘retirement bout’.

Here’s the thing: Mayweather has proven over the years that his priorities are marketability and profitability. He cares not for critical acclaim or ‘fighter’s pride’: he wants to get in and get out with minimum fuss for maximum money.

So with that in mind, imagine if Mayweather were to admit BEFORE fight number 49, even just once, that he is toying with the idea of going for a nice round 50 bouts without defeat.

If he did, I believe Mayweather would be directly following his all-time record money win over Manny Pacquiao with one of his most disappointing cheques in recent years. Only diehard Floyd fans (or those desperate to see him lose, no matter how unlikely) would cough up for fight 49. They’d all be waiting to see him overtake the great Rocky Marciano’s unbeaten streak in 2016.

In that scenario, the only thing Mayweather could do to amp up his earnings would be to take a fight with an element of risk, such as Keith Thurman, Amir Khan or Gennady Golovkin. Floyd had to stray ever-so-slightly from his comfort zone to face Pacquiao and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in the interest of keeping his brand (and his profits) strong, but by insisting his next fight will be his last, he doesn’t even have to do that.

Mayweather v Berto will not be marketed on the pairing itself – because it’s a lacklustre mismatch. Instead it will be marketed on the fact that it’s probably Floyd’s last hurrah – and I stress probably because TMT will go out of their way to only imply this, rather than guarantee it.

That’s because, again, they won’t want to risk any damage to Floyd’s brand when he starts entertaining fight #50 as soon as he takes a seat at the post-Berto press conference.

At that point, with the boxing community’s money safely on its way to his bank account, Mayweather can pretend that ‘overwhelming demand has convinced him’ to consider going for 50 without defeat.

Floyd likes to fight twice a year, at the MGM Grand, like clockwork. One in September, and one on Cinco de Mayo weekend – usually against a fighter of Latin descent or huge support within the fervent Latin fight community. That Cinco showdown is often a huge cash cow, no matter who he faces each year.

As a result, there is no way in my mind that he will pass up the opportunity to make even more millions on May 7, 2016 and overtake Marciano in the process in his real final bout, surrounded by ’50-0’ marketing… and probably once again in a very low-risk fight.

In hindsight, the Berto fight will look like the waste of time that it inevitably will be. But for the next month and a bit, Mayweather will enjoy great box office success based only on the mere suggestion that it’ll be the last time he steps between the ropes.

And while so many people resent Floyd for successfully managing this, let’s be honest: we all aim to make as much money as we can in our lives for as little risk as possible. Floyd’s simply been far more successful at it than all of us.

Everything that has earned him criticism throughout his career – his social media posts flaunting his wealth, his meticulous-yet-uninspiring fighting style, his choice of opponents (and the timing of those fights), the massive degree of control he has over his career path – has all been geared towards raking in the cash with as little risk and as little fuss as possible.

While so many people criticise this approach, there are clearly far more people willing to pay money in the hopes he’ll be defeated and thus ensuring he enjoys a lot of success – one of his ‘wealth flaunting’ social media posts displayed two fight cheques: one for $31 million, the other for $40 million.

So, if you’re as outraged about Mayweather handpicking Berto and insinuating it will be his swan song as you claim you are, speak with your wallets. Don’t line his pockets.

Because for all the complaining that Mayweather waited five years to fight Pacquiao to increase his chances, record numbers of fans still fell over themselves to spend $100 on the off-chance Pacquiao would land that big knockout punch.

And as his business model has proven, Mayweather has no problem with tons of boxing fans complaining about what he does and who he fights, so long as they shut up and cough up on fight week.