The long-rumored fight has been made official, as Floyd Mayweather will return to the ring on May 4 against Robert Guerrero, according to the official press release on BoxingScene.com.
Per the release, Mayweather has signed a six-fight deal with CBS and Showtime, one that is the biggest in the sport of boxing (financial terms were not made available to the public), and the first fight of that deal will be the fight against Guerrero.
This deal ends the relationship with HBO, which had broadcasted Mayweather fights in the past, and according to Leonard Ellerbe, one of the star fighter's advisers, it was no contest when it came down to where he would sign.
Negotiations have been long and slow between both camps, but it became apparent just before Christmas that this was the fight that was going to happen.
Mayweather has settled into a nice routine with his career in the last three years. He has fought once a year since 2009, twice on the weekend of or right before Cinco de Mayo. It is great marketing on his part, because it gets people accustomed to planning early to see him.
It also helps that Mayweather has been dominant in those three fights, defeating Shane Mosley, Victor Ortiz and Miguel Cotto. Even when he had the 16-month layoff between May 2010 and September 2011, he came back without missing a beat.
Mayweather destroyed Ortiz in his comeback fight, scoring his first knockout since 2007 against Ricky Hatton.
On the other side of the ring, Guerrero is a budding star in the sport. He has a 31-1-1 career record with 18 knockouts. His lone loss was a split decision and came in 2005. Since that time, he has won 15 fights with two no contests mixed in.
The reason Guerrero got a spot on a card against Mayweather is because of what he did in his previous fight with Andre Berto on November 24. Guerrero earned a unanimous decision win after knocking Berto down twice early and beating his eye to a pulp.
After that fight was over, Guerrero did exactly what you want to see from a new star trying to make a name for himself. He called out Mayweather. It takes guts to tell the best fighter in the world you want him.
Guerrero will get his wish. Now he has to prove that he is up to the task. He has a few months to prepare for the biggest fight of his life.
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