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http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/8962874/floyd-mayweather-signs-pay-per-view-deal-showtime-cbs-fight-robert-guerrero-4
Pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. made two announcements Tuesday -- one expected and one that was rather surprising and will change the landscape of the boxing business.
The expected was Mayweather will return to the ring on May 4, one day short of a year since his last fight, to defend his welterweight world title against interim titlist Robert Guerrero at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where Mayweather will be fighting for the seventh consecutive time.
Since Mayweather first announced in December that he would fight on May 4, Guerrero was the leading candidate to get the fight.
The unexpected element of Mayweather's announcement was that he is leaving HBO/Time Warner, his television home for virtually his entire career, to move to rival Showtime/CBS for the pay-per-view fight.
But Mayweather is not just going to Showtime PPV for one fight, like Manny Pacquiao did when Top Rank promoter Bob Arum took him from HBO to Showtime to face Shane Mosley in a 2011 pay-per-view fight. Arum ultimately brought Pacquiao back after HBO Sports' Ross Greenburg was forced to resign, in large part for losing Pacquiao to Showtime.
Mayweather, the five-division champion who turns 36 on Sunday, signed a six-fight, 30-month deal with Showtime/CBS, effectively ending his career at HBO.
"Floyd has signed a record-breaking deal with Showtime PPV/CBS and Floyd is ecstatic," Leonard Ellerbe, one of Mayweather's top advisers, told ESPN.com. "This historic deal reflects a global superstar who is head and shoulders above his peers. HBO, they made a great offer but the Showtime PPV/CBS offer was substantially greater in every facet, from top to bottom.
"So bottom line, HBO was outgunned. They came to a gun fight with a knife. At the end of the day, it's business. Floyd has had a fantastic relationship over the last (16) years with HBO, but he's moving on. He made the decision based on what was best for him and his family."
Ellerbe said the details of the deal were confidential but that Mayweather had every intention of fighting all six bouts under the deal.