Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe said that since Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer this week departed the company, boxer Floyd Mayweather now "will self-promote his Sept. 13 fight, his first time doing so and the first time since 2006 that he officially will fight under any banner other than Golden Boy Promotions," according to David Mayo of MLIVE.com. Ellerbe stressed that while a "power upheaval at Golden Boy Promotions spurred the change, the timing for seven-year-old Mayweather Promotions is ideal." Ellerbe: "We're not looking to sit around under somebody else's umbrella. The timing couldn't be better. This was going to happen anyway." He added that after Mayweather's May 3 win over Marcos Maidana, Mayweather Promotions "is ready to take over its namesake's future promotions." Mayo wrote while Mayweather's next opponent "has yet to be selected, the most likely options for a fight barely more than three months away are Danny Garcia or a Maidana rematch." Either "could ease the effort for a first-time major promoter who can deal easily with both camps: Garcia and Maidana are advised by Mayweather's manager, Al Haymon." Mayweather and Golden Boy co-Founder & President Oscar De La Hoya "have a long-running feud that pre-dates" their '07 fight. When it came to Mayweather fights, Schaefer "was the liaison for Golden Boy, never De La Hoya." Ellerbe: "Richard and his team have been doing the day-to-day stuff ever since we've been involved with them. That's no knock on Oscar at all." Ellerbe "would not preclude working with Golden Boy in the future, in some capacity, just not for Sept. 13" (MLIVE.com, 6/3).
LAND OF OPPORTUNITY? Top Rank boxer Timothy Bradley said that he "wasn't sure if he might see more interesting and lucrative fights" following Schaefer's departure. Bradley: "Just because one person leaves the company, then all of the sudden we’ll all get along? Business is all about the relationship." In California, Leighton Ginn wrote if Schaefer "truly was the road block that kept Golden Boy and Top Rank from pitting their fighters against each other, then his resignation could open up the door for many fights that fans have wanted to see, but couldn’t be made because of the 'cold war.'" Bradley "could be one of the fighters to benefit" from Schaefer's departure (Palm Springs DESERT SUN, 6/3).
