Floyd Mayweather Jr.: Why Fighting Victor Ortiz Will Hurt His Legacy and Wallet

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been M.I.A. as far as boxing goes since the negotiations for the proposed superfight with Manny Pacquiao fell apart last summer. He has been dealing with a lot of legal issues over the last six months, so it's not like boxing has been his biggest priority.

But the yearlong boxing sabbatical will end on September 17th, as Mayweather will challenge Victor Ortiz for the WBC welterweight championship. The controversial Mayweather broke the news earlier Tuesday via Twitter.

This is a very, very good fight for Ortiz and an interesting choice for Mayweather, who has been very careful in selecting opponents that he can dominate in order to keep his record perfect.

If Mayweather were to lose this fight, it would be very damaging to his career. There is only one really big payday fight out there for Mayweather, and that's against Pacquiao.

One loss and that fight goes right out the window. That reported $65 million paycheck that he would have gotten if the two sides had worked out a deal last year will be gone.

This fight with Ortiz is far from a tune-up fight to get Mayweather to Pacquiao. Ortiz is a much-improved fighter who poses a lot of problems for Mayweather. He is naturally right-handed but fights like a southpaw because it is more difficult for opponents to defend. He has a lot of power in his punches and really good defense.

Mayweather hasn't fought in over a year, and that was against a past-his-prime Shane Mosley. Who knows what kind of shape he will be in for this fight?

He is in a very dangerous position to lose everything that he has worked so hard to protect. Will his speed still be there? Will that defense, which has been his trademark, still hold up over the course of a 12-round fight? What will he do if he loses?

Those are just a few of the questions that Mayweather has to ask himself. I applaud him for wanting to step back in the ring, but this is a scary fight for him.

It's ironic to think that he was trying to avoid the Pacquiao fight because he didn't want to ruin his perfect record and destroy his legacy, and now he might not even make it to that fight.

I don't know how to predict this fight right now because we don't know what kind of condition Mayweather is going to be in. But I do know that if Victor Ortiz is on his game, he could easily win this fight.

If that happens, Mayweather's legacy is ruined, and all those big fight paychecks will go bye-bye.