The 38 year-old, who has defeated all 48 opponents beforehand, meets Andre Berto at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas next month amidst a wave of criticism at choosing to meet a fighter with three losses from his last six bouts.
Ellerbe moved to defend the choice of Berto, 31, as the fight was officially announced and sees the Haitian-American as a decent foil for Mayweather to end his spectacular 19-year with a flourish in a few weeks’ time.
“These are the kinds of challenges that Floyd needs to push him the way that he needs to be pushed. Andre Berto is a guy we were supposed to fight years ago. He’s a two-time world champion. We know he’s going to bring it. He’s going to give it his best. On September 12 we’ll see if it’s good enough,” said Ellerbe.
“With the storied career that Floyd Mayweather has had, we are truly witnessing history. You better take a good look at him, because the things he’s accomplished in this sport, we’ll never see again.
“We always knew that Floyd would be here, many years ago. When a guy accomplishes these kinds of things, everything he does is historic. When you look around the landscape, this gentleman right here is why the game has been changed.”
Mayweather v Berto will be charged at $75 on HD PPV, with number crunchers already predicting that the fight will struggle to overcome the 750 thousand purchases mark.
It’s a far cry from the four million plus buys for the Manny Pacquiao fight in May and would represent Mayweather leaving boxing with a whimper – something which is predicted that won’t be the way ‘Money’ goes out.
