Why Floyd Mayweather Can't Fight Devon Alexander on May 4

With Floyd Mayweather sending out the tweet heard 'round the world earlier this week, talk is now happening about a potential Mayweather vs. Devon Alexander fight. This fight cannot happen for a multitude of reasons. 

The first is Alexander is already under contract to defend his IBF title against Kell Brook. That fight was supposed to take place this month but was pushed back due to an alleged bicep injury to Alexander. I remain skeptical about the injury, largely due to the timing of the Mayweather tweet. 

If Alexander signs to fight Mayweather, he'll be stripped of his IBF title, making this fight a non-unification bout.

That's something Floyd certainly won't like. 

The second major reason I don't see this fight happening is money. Robert Guerrero has long been thought to be the obvious choice for the May Mayweather fight, with Floyd expected to fight Canelo Alvarez in September. If Floyd doesn't fight Alexander, he'll be forced to take on Guerrero in his next fight, because he's Floyd's mandatory. 

Thus, he'll lose out on the monster payday that is the Canelo Alvarez fight until 2014, assuming he can win these two fights first.

Also, the fan response has been horribly negative to a potential Alexander fight. Robert Guerrero is moderately well known and has a good personal back story as well as a fan-friendly style. 

In other words, the Guerrero fight is a lock to exceed one million pay-per-view buys. The Alexander fight will be lucky if it hits 700,000. It's just not nearly as marketable. 

Lastly, a Mayweather-Alexander fight is terrible for the fans. It's an awful matchup because both are counterpunchers who wait for their opponent to attack first. It'd likely turn out in a similar manner to the Mayweather-Marquez fight—a slow, boring domination. 

So, let's hope Floyd is just posturing and fights Robert Guerrero on May 4.

It's the better fight and makes sense for everyone involved.