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Floyd Mayweather Says Gennady Golovkin Would Be “Easy Work”

Rumors of the return of Floyd Mayweather Jr. are spreading, and while he’s publicly denied the claims of a comeback, it does seem to be moving in that direction.
Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

There have been a number of rumors circulating in the media about the return of Floyd Mayweather Jr., pretty much ever since the day he retired. The most recent was from boxing trainer Abel Sanchez when he spoke with On the Ropes Boxing about the inner-workings of a potential bout being set with his charge, Gennady Golovkin.

"[Mayweather] is saying things about a comeback, he just seems to be fixated on Golovkin. I've seen three or four pieces in the last couple of weeks where he's talking about beating Golovkin," said Sanchez. "It looks like he's laying the ground work for something, whether it's Golovkin or somebody else. Floyd's laying the ground works for a comeback."

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Five days later, Mayweather spoke with his chosen media outlet Fighthype to respond to the comments.

"When you hear stuff about Triple G, like I said before, I told Triple G what he had to do if he wants a fight with me. He's gotta call out Andre Ward, beat Andre Ward, and then I'll fight him. I haven't seen him call out Andre Ward yet," said Mayweather.

That prospect appears to be unlikely as this Saturday Ward will be making his 175lb debut against Sullivan Barrera in what most fans hope will lead to an eventual showdown with the Russian destroyer Sergey Kovalev. This of course would also be a two-weight jump for Golovkin, who will be facing off in his own bout against Dominic Wade about a month from now, and will likely stay in the middleweight division. Despite all the potential roadblocks, a middleweight unification bout with Mexico's Canelo Álvarez is one of the most highly anticipated matches in boxing. To make a potential Mayweather/Golovkin bout even more complicated, not only would GGG need to make a two-division jump to challenge Andre Ward, he would also likely need to dip below his normal fighting weight of 160 to challenge the former pound-for-pound champ. If, however, all these stipulations were all met, Mayweather believes he would win easily.

"I can barely make 147, so how am I gonna fight at 160? Triple G, not being disrespectful, but he's straight up and down, no special effects," Mayweather said in an interview. "That's easy work."

But there is some accuracy in what Sanchez said in his interview. Mayweather is indeed making public statements on how he would fare in a hypothetical matchup against Golovkin, and also making speculative comments on the opponent he would fight if he were to return to the sport.

"If I did think about coming back, there's only one name I'm looking at and that's Danny Garcia," said Mayweather in the same interview with Fighthype. "I have to say Danny Garcia because you look at Danny Garcia, he's undefeated and he's a world champion. If I'm going to fight a guy, it's going to be a world champion."

Just about every major boxing media outlet has speculated on a Mayweather return since his last fight against Manny Pacquiao, and some have even doubted his retirement from the beginning. It wouldn't be the first time Mayweather has done so as most fans might remember his "retirement" back in 2007, which in reality was more of a two-year layoff. Granted, his attitude and comments during this current retirement has been more adamant on the stance of staying inactive, but his recent comments regarding Golovkin and Danny Garcia are a move, no matter how miniscule, in the direction of returning to the ring.