Looking to keep his unbeaten streak alive and climb toward the top of boxing's all-time greats still on the ascent, Floyd Mayweather Jr. gets in the ring on Saturday night to face Robert Guerrero in a battle of two welterweight stars.
As the Showtime Sports previews have told us over the course of the build up for this event, it's "May Day."
Mayweather brings his 43 straight career wins and five division belts into the bout, while Guerrero will be battling for both respect from his peers and a chance to join an elusive list of fighters who have knocked off a big-time opponent when he was still an undefeated champion.
The stakes have never been higher for both fighters.
Continue to check back with this piece as we offer you round-by-round analysis, a link to Bleacher Report's live blog and a few top storylines to follow as this epic clash moves closer to completion on Saturday night in Las Vegas' MGM Grand Arena.
Round-by-Round Analysis
Click here to follow B/R's live blog of the fight.
Mayweather vs. Guerrero Tale of the Tape
| Floyd Mayweather Jr. | | Robert Guerrero |
| 43-0-0 | RECORD | 31-1-1 |
| 36 | AGE | 30 |
| 26 | KOs | 18 |
| 5'8"/173 cm | HEIGHT | 5'8"/173 cm |
| 145-147 lbs | WEIGHT | 145-147 lbs |
| 72"/183 cm | REACH | 70"/178 cm |
| Orthodox | STANCE | Southpaw |
Main Storylines Heading Into "May Day"
Mayweather Layoff
Mayweather went to prison after his last fight, which was a full 364 days before this May 4 bout against Guerrero. Although interviews and workout sessions have him poised as more mature and capable of winning fights as ever, the reality remains—he hasn't faced a live opponent in a big venue in nearly a year.
Factor in Mayweather's increasing age, his decrease in hand speed and a position of no leverage after coming out of prison and needing an opponent, and the never-say-die Guerrero could be a tough opponent for the Money Team.
We all know that Mayweather's cockiness is part of what makes him a great fighter, but how that attitude meshes with his most recent layoff from the sport could be interesting as a 36-year-old fighter with everything to lose.
Guerrero on Marquee Stage
One of Mayweather's main problems with taking a fight with Guerrero has been no secret from the start: He doesn't think the 30-year-old has done enough to prove himself for a fight of this nature.
He could be right.
Money May spoke out again about Guerrero's rise to the contender spot in a recent piece by Case Keefer of the Las Vegas Sun, again questioning if he's on the level of a fighter who has never lost a professional bout in 43 chances.
Fight build-up or not, Mayweather has a clear point. Guerrero is a champion who has been begging for a title shot against Mayweather for years, but only when he battered Andre Berto in a 12-round mauling back in November did things get serious.
Per Keefer's piece, Mayweather was impressed with Guerrero's showing in late 2012, but this is a huge fight on a national stage. Only eight of Guerrero's 35 career fights have been in Las Vegas, and only two of those (Berto and Michael Katsidis) were at the MGM Grand.
This is the biggest fight of Guerrero's career, and he'll have to reach a new level of intensity, stamina and emotion if he wants to survive a 12-round fight with Mayweather to become the champion.
Fight Hype
The normal build-up and promoting from Golden Boy has been there throughout this fight process, but you don't get the same feeling of dominance, intrigue or "Oh man, Mayweather is on this Saturday? I've got to watch that fight" from this May 4 bout.
It's a theory that Eric Raskin wondered himself on Grantland.com, specifically when it comes to Mayweather's promotional "all-access" videos that profile the fight:
When Mayweather made the jump from HBO to Showtime for the Guerrero fight, he also made the jump from 24/7 to All Access, which is essentially the same show with Common narrating instead of Liev Schrieber. Two episodes have aired thus far; the third premieres tonight. As Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole reported, viewership for the initial Wednesday broadcasts dipped from 105,000 households for the first episode to 64,000 for the second. On 24/7 last year, Mayweather and Cotto drew as many as 493,000 for a single episode.
We won't know until the final pay-per-view numbers come in, because the crowd in Las Vegas will be rocking with a good fight, but Mayweather's place as a PPV star could come into question with a dud in this fight.
Both fighters need a marquee finish, but for different reasons.
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