American super featherweight prospect Curmel Moton made his professional debut on September 30th on the undercard of the Alvarez-Charlo boxing event, and he managed to greatly impress with a 1st-round KO. However, his performance and debut went relatively unnoticed despite his promoter Floyd Mayweather Jr. ― through Mayweather Promotions ― heralding Curmel Moton as boxing’s next superstar.
Curmel Moton (1-0, 1 KO’s) crafted his own path in the amateurs prior to making his professional debut, becoming an astonishing 18-time amateur champion throughout his time in boxing’s unpaid ranks. Moton garnered significant attention due to his exploits as an amateur and was eventually signed by Floyd Mayweather Jr. to train in his gym and join his Mayweather Promotions brand.
Roughly a month ago, during an exclusive interview with FightHype, Floyd Mayweather Jr. went out of his way to bestow high praise on the 17-year-old boxer and even suggested that he could fight an active world champion, specifically mentioning current WBA featherweight champion Leigh Wood (27-3, 16 KO’s).
“I have a 126-pounder, Curmel Moton, that’d be a good match,” Mayweather revealed during the interview.
“Right now, I’m saying that’s a good match-up. I don’t know who his promoter is, but that’s a good match-up. Right now.
“He [Curmel Moton] is destined to be great. He’s destined to be great; remember I told you that. You know, amateur boxing… it’s good, but all that is is a bunch of sparring, getting you ready for the professionals.“
When asked about how ready Moton was for his professional career, Mayweather expressed even more confidence.
“He’s born ready. See, when you’re born ready, you don’t need to get ready.“
Despite Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s complete confidence in Curmel Moton, the promotion surrounding his debut was lackluster. Although Mayweather asserted that Moton was already at a high enough level to face a world champion, Moton’s debut was not televised on September 30th.
While fighting on the undercard of the Alvarez-Charlo event, Moton’s bout was not part of the televised broadcast. Given the array of talent that had fought that night, Moton’s fight not being televised wasn’t much of a surprise, but it also exposed Mayweather’s own lack of promotion, which could have helped Moton gain television exposure.
With over a decade’s worth of experience in promoting himself and other fighters, Floyd Mayweather Jr. appeared to have overlooked the importance of ‘promoting’ a fighter, and it seems he did not take the necessary steps to put Curmel Moton in the spotlight.
For some reason, Mayweather could not arrange for Moton’s debut to be televised, which runs counter to his role as a promoter. What’s more intriguing is that not too long ago, Floyd Mayweather vaguely claimed to have been running the PBC alongside its founder/suspected owner Al Haymon, yet he could not arrange a televised debut for a fighter he himself regarded as a potential great.
Curmel Moton went on to impress during his pro debut at super featherweight, scoring a stunning 1st-round KO over 27-year-old prospect Ezequiel Flores (4-1, 3 KO’s), with no high-quality footage to showcase him to the public.
Most concerning, Moton was not even featured on the preliminary card of the event, which was available for free on YouTube, raising further questions about the promotion of Curmel Moton as a pro fighter.
Judging by Moton’s debut performance, he is poised for a bright career, and hopefully, he will receive the praise and acknowledgment he deserves as he progresses through his professional career to fulfill the great potential he has been lauded for.
