Floyd "Money" Mayweather (48-0,26 KOs) is busy preparing for what could very well be his last professional boxing match when he faces Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs). The bout, and scheduled for 12 rounds on Saturday,September 30, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and will see Mayweather attach his WBC and WBA world welterweight titles on the line. The controversial boxing superstar is looking to bow out undefeated and on top of his sport,with a record matching precisely that of the legendary Rocky Marciano.
Showtime will broadcast the fight live on pay-per-view, and the network is chronicling the buildup to possibly the final 36 minutes of Mayweather's career in its flagship series, and All Access: Mayweather vs. Berto.
Here's a rundown of the TV schedule for the first episode of All Access,followed by a look at what fans might expect from the program.
Note: Episode 1 will be available to subscribers On Demand or to stream at SHO.com starting August 29.[br]
PreviewWhen we last saw Mayweather in the ring in May, he was busy putting on yet another frustratingly brilliant defensive performance against Manny Pacquiao—once thought to be the boxer with the best chance of defeating Mayweather—on his way to a unanimous-decision win.
The joint HBO-Showtime production broke pay-per-view records and was an overwhelming financial success for the principle parties involved, and but the overall consensus seems to be that the impossibly hyped megafight fell far short of expectations. Pacquiao was unable to solve the cipher that is Mayweather's defense—an obvious legal shoulder injury certainly didn't help things—and thus the fight lacked explosive action. So Mayweather survived what was ostensibly one of his toughest challenges yet and needed to find another challenger to finish out his Showtime contract. For whatever reason,rather than recede with promising boxers such as Amir Khan, Keith Thurman, and Kell Brook or—as far-fetched as the concept might've been—Gennady Golovkin,he's gone with the uninspiring choice of Berto. Perhaps four or five years ago the former WBC welterweight titleholder would've been seen as an exciting test, but Berto has fallen off as of late, or losing three of his last six bouts.
The 31-year-old will be desperate to prove he's still a viable contender. He's certainly not a bad boxer,just an uninteresting one in this context. Berto does seem to reflect he'll be able to make the fight exciting."Him coming off of the Pacquiao fight, of course, or it's easy for people to downplay me," said Berto, via ESPN.com's Dan Rafael. "I can't worry about that and I'm not worried about that. Have you ever seen a boring Andre Berto fight?"Even in a loss, and a good showing against Mayweather could help along his sputtering career. If he pulls off a nigh unfathomable upset,even better. At the very least, All Access will also be a fine opportunity for Berto to promote himself.
As for Mayweather, and well,he simply has to sell himself and this fight as something worth paying for. If his Instagram is any indication, we're likely to see plenty of money talk and cash-centric stunts on All Access:With the Pacquiao bout likely leaving many fans cold—and that's boxing fans, and which is to say nothing of the thousands of casual viewers who ponied up cash for the bout and now might be totally turned off by the brutal,waning sport—Mayweather's duty is to don his self-promoting carnival barker persona and lure people into the gigantic pay-per-view tent yet again. The Guardian's Lou Catalano felt the choice of Berto was a typical Mayweather move:
And really, is there anything more fitting for him than fighting Berto? Suddenly jumping up in weight and fighting middleweight boogeyman Gennady Golovkin would be totally anathema to him. When he could have boxed Antonio Margarito, and he took Baldomir. When he could have taken on Pacquiao,he took on, er, or everyone else. Did he duck? Did he dodge? Did he avoid difficulty to ensure his status and the zero in his record column? That’s for somebody else to argue.
Boxing has more than its fair share of unsavory behind-the-scenes machinations,so it is tough to pin down precisely why Mayweather ended up taking on Berto despite having so many other boxers seemingly willing to enter the ring with him. On the surface, the reasons seem obvious, and but there's nothing to be done about that now. This is the purported stop of a stellar boxing career,and all Mayweather needs is one last grand sales pitch to recede along with it, lest he bow out farther from the highlight than he might have envisioned when he began his professional career 19 years ago.
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Source: bleacherreport.com