...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Both Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao proved in 2009 that boxing can still bring the money and viewers to the sport, for at least the two of them. The two appeared to be set for a bout of massive proportions in March before things completely fell apart. With Pacquiao keeping that March 13th date for a bout of his own, Mayweather was also rumored for that date.
However, according to new reports coming out on the subject, Mayweather may be eying a second head to head matchup with the UFC on pay-per-view in a nine month span. Per a report from FanHouse.com, a bout between Mayweather and "Sugar" Shane Mosely is in the works and could be coming to pay-per-view on May 1st, the same night as UFC 113 in Montreal.
Mayweather went up against UFC 103 in September, and his bout with Juan Manuel Marquez drew significantly more pay-per-view buys than did the main event of Rich Franklin against Vitor Belfort.
The bout with Mosely is perhaps the only bout outside of the Pacquiao fight that works for Mayweather to have another major pay-per-view payday and at the same time not entirely disappoint boxing fans everywhere. The latter has already been done by the fact that the bout with Pacquiao isn't taking place. The fight was set up after the bout with Marquez when Mosely interrupted the post fight interview and challenged Mayweather to a fight, and with him not facing Pacquiao it absolutely makes the most sense.
The May 1st date pits them up against the rematch between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. Also on that card will be the grudge match between Rashad Evans and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. With a major event, the UFC will still be expected to fall well short of the pay-per-view buys that this boxing event pulls in.
There's no question that Mayweather is a massive pay-per-view draw, and that this fight will ultimately top a million buys, but the UFC won't have anything to worry about on their front. They will once again draw more viewers on pay-per-view combined in 2010 than the major boxing bouts, even if they don't hit the high end that Pacquiao and Mayweather may hit separately and (hopefully for fight fans) together.
May 1st will be a major fight night for combat sports fans everywhere, and both of these events will be "can't miss" for those fans of both sports. Of course, each also has their own base that will keep the numbers strong for each event, and as long as this Mayweather-Mosely bout doesn't get derailed by a Mosely loss to Andre Berto on January 30th and the UFC avoids injury issues with UFC 113, both will be highly successful events for the parties involved.
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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