Is Floyd Mayweather Playing Both Sides of the Fence?

By Troy Sparks

Since Floyd Mayweather's win over Shane Mosley in May, everyone's been wondering when or if he would be ready to challenge Manny Pacquiao.

I must admit, trying to guess what Mayweather is going to do next is like solving a riddle.

Mayweather tells us that he's not interested in fighting right now.

There's no telling if he even knows when he's ready to step back in the ring.

This guy says he's not ready to fight, but he runs his boxing camp and plans to show up at a boxing venue.

Even though Mayweather is taking a break from boxing, he doesn't stay away from the fighting environment.

He recently watched a cagefight.

Watching two chickens fight is a mirror image of the perception fans have of him ducking Pacquiao.

Is Mayweather a chicken, or a duck?

If it walks and quacks like a duck, it is a duck.

When Mayweather met Don King over a $500 dollar lobster, he fell for the bait.

King is reeling Mayweather in by inviting him to St. Louis Saturday to watch the Devon Alexander fight.

Any fighters, past and present, who are or were in the King family, know that the straight, white-haired manipulator is always up to something.

And I also heard that King is inviting Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield to the party.

King will have two bodyguards at ringside to babysit his soon-to-be client, if he gets his way.

Wait, I thought Mayweather had his own entourage.

Maybe he fired them too.

One person who should be mad is Al Haymon, if Mayweather meets King in St. Louis.

So should Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions and Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather's close advisor.

They smell a rat, and it stinks.

Mayweather has freedom over who he wants to fight, something that King wants to take off his hands.

King, who's known as the "Great Seducer," is pulling one way while Mayweather's people are pulling the other way.

It would take a heck of a person to pull Mayweather away from the people who were responsible for his success, and Don King could pull it off.

A picket fence sits between Mayweather and King on one side and Team Mayweather on the other.

Which side will he stay on?