In a move which surprised absolutely nobody, Floyd Mayweather has declared that he sides with Richard Schaefer in his messy divorce from Golden Boy and Oscar De La Hoya. That means that Mayweather will no longer be promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, who he has partnered with on a fight to fight basis over the past few years.
Leaving no room for mystery or questioning, Leonard Ellerbe specifically said Mayweather will “absolutely not” continue working with Golden Boy.
Mayweather and Schaefer at first clashed when Mayweather was lined up to face Oscar De La Hoya. Eventually though the two bonded, and came to have a mutual respect.
Schaefer was basically able to see through Mayweather’s public persona to the business sense behind his decisions, and the two continued to work together closely. Meanwhile, Mayweather and De La Hoya have never really gotten along.
Of course, this adds more fuel to the fire that Schaefer could either be brought in to head up Mayweather Promotions — replete with a full stable of Al Haymon fighters, poached from Golden Boy — or alternatively, that Schaefer forms up his own company and continues working with Mayweather in that fashion.
De La Hoya is looking to reopen his business relationship with Top Rank and Bob Arum, and that offers a variety of intriguing fights between the two companies. Yet, it’s unclear just how many of those Golden Boy fighters are actually contracted to the company, as opposed to solely having contracts with Haymon.
Further, Schaefer and Mayweather won’t work with Arum, so there’s still no hope of a Mayweather fight against Manny Pacquiao, or any other Top Rank fighter at this point in time. As for Mayweather’s next fight, in September, there have been no updates on who the opponent could be. But again, this split from Golden Boy creates a potentially much different outlook or set of realistic options.
This is an ongoing story and there’s going to continue to be plenty of updates, and some very intriguing fallout, in the days, weeks and months to come.
