Floyd Mayweather Jr. is set to fight Marcos "El Chino" Maidana on May 3rd, despite the fact that Adrien Broner had exercised a rematch clause in his contract after losing to the Argentine in December.
Some boxing observers believe the Maidana fight was pushed by shadowy adviser Al Haymon to both capitalize on Maidana's recent momentum, as well as protect Broner from a rematch he may not be ready for.
"Two things are very important to Al. One is that he wants to make sure his fighters get in the fights they want," Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer said. "And he wants to make sure they get properly paid. In both of those aspects, he's a master with no competition."
Broner is a major attraction still despite his one-sided loss, but with Mayweather also interested in Maidana "The Problem" had to wait in line. Both men are influential fighters used to getting their way, so Schaefer said it required a person "with the skill of Al Haymon to make sure everybody was going to be happy.
"The way you make fighters happy is ... make sure they get paid a lot. Why do you think Al Haymon gets all these fighters? Al knows how to move those different pieces, and he's very good at what he does."
Broner is still going to fight in April, and is now eyeing the likes of Luis Collazo, who shocked Victor Ortiz on Fox Sports 1 at the Barclays Center, and Keith Thurman, who knocked out Jesus Soto Karass on the Broner undercard.
Schaefer indicated that Broner wasn't pleased by Mayweather's decision to take on El Chino. "Broner wasn't happy, but you move on," Schaefer said. "It's a matter of getting everyone together now that we have the centerpiece. Now, we'll put the rest of the puzzle together. That's my task ... to set those dates by the end of next week."
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