Will Mayweather seriously fight on beyond Showcase contract?

When Floyd Mayweather signed a contract with Showtime /CBS earlier this year, he made it crystal clear with the line “in 30 months my career is over” that he would not be stepping in the ring again after.

The contract was for as many as six bouts and it has regularly seemed that Mayweather would fill this quota with the intent of ending his career with the final record of 49-0.

He has already triumphed in the first of these contests with Robert Guerrero, with the second upcoming in September against unbeaten 22-year-old Mexican Saul Alvarez, for which he is 1/3 to triumph.

However, as part of the ongoing press tour to drum up interest in the Alvarez fight, Mayweather dropped an interesting line suggesting that he was considering fighting beyond his Showtime deal.

He said: “After my five more fights, guess what? I think after 49-0 we may stay in this sport a little longer.”

Bernard Hopkins and Vitali Klitschko are proof that boxers can still sit atop the boxing podium into their 40s, but there are reasons to believe that the comment was more throw-away than serious in a bid to generate publicity.

The big problem relates to whom Mayweather will face and which of the young guns he is prepared to put his record on the line against. After all, the 36-year-old holds all of the aces in terms of picking fights to suit his own situation.

Viable opponents are not out there in their droves either.

Mayweather is already fighting at the top end of his limit by taking on Alvarez at 154lb and there is every possibility that he will step on the scales under-weight for this contest, as he has previously with Oscar De La Hoya and Miguel Cotto.

Therefore, he will be very choosy if staying at super welterweight. Big-punching Gennady Golovkin is reportedly prepared to cut weight to this class, but this must be regarded as too much of a risk.

Like Golovkin, Sergio Martinez is also a middleweight champion, but given that he is 38 and formerly a welterweight, this is more possible.

Mayweather going back down the classes is a more likely scenario though, with Marcos Maidana at welterweight or Lucas Matthyse at 140lb both options.

Adrien Broner and Manny Pacquiao are other names that are unlikely to go away, but these continue to appear distant.

Finding four more fights that will allow Mayweather to enhance his reputation and get paid well without putting it all on the line is clutching at straws slightly. Looking beyond that would be as desperate as trying to grasp a single straw on a windy day.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.