What say about another Mayweather-Cotto waltz, this time in Cotto Country aka New York, at Madison Square Garden? (Hogan Photos)

Love him or hate him, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is the biggest star in the sport. Numbers don’t lie, and there is no bigger cash cow than the undefeated pound-for-pound superstar. Mayweather is scheduled to be released from jail today after serving two months of a 90-day sentence for domestic violence. His imminent return to the land of the free is sure to cause a stir, so let the clamor for opponents begin!

Here are five fights the “Money Team” should consider in order of personal preference and potential impact on the sport of boxing.

1. Manny Pacquiao – While boxing’s other incredibly gifted and famous pound-for-pound superstar is coming off a bogus decision loss to Timothy Bradley, a fight between the two stars would still outdraw any other potential match-up in the sport. If anything, perhaps Pacquiao’s apparent decline over the last few fights (he no longer blows through opponents like a wrecking ball thus leaving himself vulnerable to bad judging) will finally embolden Mayweather enough to take the fight. Mayweather would be favored in the fight, and it’d be the biggest fight of the decade.
2. Winner of Sergio Martinez vs. Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. – Fight fans love when their guy accepts challenges beyond the norm, and no potential showdown would challenge Mayweather more than moving up to middleweight to take on the winner of the September 15^th linear title bout between Martinez and Chavez. Either would present an interesting puzzle for Floyd, and both men are physically larger than Mayweather. Martinez is a gifted athlete with devastating power and an unorthodox style. Meanwhile, Chavez is already almost too big for the middleweight division, and he fights coming forward with reckless aggression and a granite chin.
3. Danny Garcia – While Garcia is reportedly scheduled for a rematch with the previously vanquished (but legendary) Erik Morales, a change of plan could give Garcia the chance of a lifetime. Like Mayweather, Garcia is undefeated and just keeps winning. His upset win over Amir Khan, who was until then listed as a potential Mayweather foe by many, has positioned Garcia for some serious big money fights. Frankly, he deserves them at this point, and there’s no bigger bout in boxing than a fight against Mayweather. Garcia’s youthful enthusiasm and never-say-die approach would at least make for good television, right?
4. Miguel Cotto (at Madison Square Garden) – Yeah, we just saw this on in May, but Cotto gave Mayweather a pretty stern test in Las Vegas, and a rematch in New York would serve two functions. First, it’d give Cotto home court advantage for the fight (which Mayweather had in the first). Second, Cotto’s legion of Puerto Rican fans, augmented by Mayweather’s added drawing power of fighting in a region of the country he doesn’t normally appear in, would make the atmosphere alone worth the price of admission. Plus, it’d be interesting to see how Floyd fares against a guy like Cotto the second time.
5. Robert Guerrero – Without being disrespectful to Guerrero, a fight against him would be a good way for Floyd to symbolically give the middle finger to the boxing world. Basically, he’d be saying he fights who he wants when he wants no matter what you, me or anyone else thinks about it (a.k.a. classic Floyd Mayweather). Look, nobody outside of Guerrero’s camp wants to see this one, but Floyd seems to relish being the bad guy more than most, and he’d be giving fans a double dose of it in this case because in addition to flipping everyone off, he’ll look like the devil up against the quiet, humble Guerrero. Mayweather doesn’t need an equally big name to make loads of money, and Guerrero has gone to the trouble of moving up two full weight classes to nab the interim WBC welterweight title to position himself for the fight. It’s probably a realer possibility than you think…

So there you have it, folks. Mayweather has plenty of options on the table for his return bout. Can TSS readers come up with better ones than these? Let us know!

Comment on this article