Floyd Mayweather will be fighting Miguel Cotto on May 5, and then go serve some time in prison. The Manny Pacquiao fight? Considering the huge differences in their views on the money issues, it wouldn’t be a crackpot theory to declare this fight as something we, unfortunately won’t get to see.

Because Mayweather refuses to split PPV shares, and Pacquiao thinks he deserves 50% or something like that. Because boxing is a sport the that money has nothing to do with who won the fight. You get paid to show up, and you get paid according to how big your name is, not how you’ll perform in the ring on that specific night. Belts mean nothing. It’s the amount of media hype you can create, and the amount of buys you can generate.

In that field, Mayweather is the king. Pacquiao’s fight with Marquez probably brought in more than Mayweather’s fight with Ortiz, but Marquez has a huge Mexican following which helped pump up the numbers. Mayweather doesn’t go below 1 million buys no matter who he’s fighting, with Victor Ortiz being the latest victim to the most popular and hated, all at once, fighter in the sport.

Mayweathe and Cotto have a good shot of pushing the numbers close to 2 million. Cotto brought around 600,000 for his revenge fight against Antonio Margarito. He’s probably the third most popular boxer in the United States behind Pacquiao and Mayweather. The big occasion can draw out even bigger numbers, although it’s hard to see anyone but a Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight breaking the 2.7 million from the De La Hoya – Pacquiao fight.

Worldwide, Amir Khan and the Klitschko brothers have a big following, but not in the United States. For the Klitschko’s it will never be, despite Wladimir looking at the American market as one of the few goals he has left to achieve, while Khan, if he comes back from the Peterson loss and makes a smooth entrance into Welterweight, has the potential to be a star in the United States as well.

Amir Khan might also be the man Mayweather faces next, after his jail time. Khan has been chasing this fight for over a year, but got derailed form the golden path when he lost to Lamont Peterson. Now he needs to regain his Light Welterweight belts before he moves on to 147 lbs and hopefully, get the chance to fight Floyd Mayweather.

Image: Source

But even if Mayweather isn’t looking to fight Manny Pacquiao once he comes out of prison, the Amir Khan fight, although very lucrative, isn’t necessarily what the undefeated champion has in mind. All-Time greatness, which Mayweather, despite whatever people like to think of him, is something he belongs to be a part of, is more likely to be achieved by winning a belt in division he has yet to venture in.

Another huge fight that might be lurking in the future is with Sergio Martinez. No doubt that Martinez, 37, is the best Middleweight in the world. He’s also craving for an opportunity for a big fight, against a big name. Anyone is good for him. He’ll probably be willing to go down to 150 or 154 to make the fight happen, although the opportunity for Mayweather to grab a belt in Middleweight as well has to be something that’s sitting somewhere in the back of his mind.

He’s been a Super Featherweight, Lightweight, Light Welterweight, Welterweight and Light Middleweight champion in the span of 12 years, since winning his first belt in 1998. By adding a sixth division to his undefeated record (hopefully it’ll still be that way), Mayweather, popular or not, will go down as one of the greatest boxers in history.