LAS VEGAS — Bill Parcells used to have a saying about how he viewed the athletes under his charge. “I go by what I see,” he claimed. The same should apply to talk of Floyd Mayweather’s return to the ring.

Mayweather opened the door then tried to close it when he told Showtime’s Jim Gray last week, “Everyone is asking me, ‘Is Floyd Mayweather coming back?’ Right now, I’m happy being on (the promotional) side, but I’ve been talking with CBS and Showtime, and you just never know. . . . As of right now, some crazy numbers have been thrown my way, upwards, of course, of nine figures.”

As with many things about Mayweather, you can take that any way you want. It’s another example of his greatest skill. Inside the ring and out, he’s as slick as a sheet of ice.

So instead of going by what he said, let’s take Parcells’ cautionary suggestion and go by what we see. What we see is he’ll be back either in the fall or by next May.

On April 21, Mayweather Productions filed for trademarks to “TMT 50” and “TBE 50,” according to records posted on the U.S. Patent and Trademark website. His 49-0 record matches Rocky Marciano, so the importance of 50 is obvious. To connect it with the letters representing “The Money Team” and “The Best Ever,” which Mayweather has worn on hats, T-shirts and sportswear, is an obvious business ploy saleable under one circumstance: that Mayweather returns to boxing.

At 39, a comeback can’t wait much longer. Mayweather’s vast skills showed signs of slippage in his last several fights before retirement. He still won, but the price was getting higher, so after making more than $200 million for out-boxing (and out-boring) Manny Pacquiao last year, Mayweather left the stage.

Many fighters do. Few leave for long, so a return would be nothing new. The fact the new T-Mobile Arena held its first boxing show last night with Canelo Alvarez as the headliner rather than Mayweather was a reminder to him the sport marches on and your name soon fades once you’re out of the limelight.

Will Mayweather return like so many of his predecessors, or will he do what Marciano, Joe Calzaghe, Ricardo Lopez and few others did and keep his record unblemished by ignoring the siren song of the ring? Mayweather is a gambling man, but no matter the odds, he’d be unwise to bet on the latter.

Fighters fight, usually until well past the time to stop.

So when he does return, with whom will he make the nine-figure payday he says he needs?

Two people come to mind.

He could make it in a rematch with Alvarez or by facing middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin. It seems highly unlikely he could do it in a rematch with Pacquiao, who claims to be retired and whose pay-per-view popularity has waned.

Mayweather’s greatest skill has been as a matchmaker. He knows who to fight when and when to wait them out. That’s why he dismissed the suggestion of facing the winner of the Shawn Porter-Keith Thurman welterweight title fight, both young lions with big power.

He did the same with Golovkin, who he rightly argued was too big for him. That left Alvarez until Mayweather offered the possibility of facing Danny Garcia, a two-division world champion who is undefeated although winner of some questionable decisions. Garcia would be the typical Mayweather selection, a slow, one-dimensional guy with an impressive knockout record, limited skills and a predictable approach.

If Showtime is willing to pay nine figures for that fight, he’ll be back. If he believes he can sell a Pacquiao rematch, he’ll be back.

Otherwise the TMT 50 logo will have to wait a while longer before it’s stenciled on a T-shirt or an oversized baseball cap.

British golden era

Amir Khan spoke last week of feeling “left out” despite being one of England’s most popular fighters. He received a $6 million payday last night for challenging WBC middleweight champion Alvarez, but Khan has reason to feel on the outside of British boxing.

At the moment, 11 fighters from the United Kingdom hold world titles, a feat Khan labeled “amazing for such a small country. To be one of the top fighters in the country and not be a champion makes you feel a little left out.”

Khan has seen his own popularity wane a bit in the face of that world championship onslaught. He has been supplanted as the most popular boxer in Britain by 2012 Olympic gold medalist Anthony Joshua, who recently won the IBF’s version of the heavyweight title. He’s joined by English-born Tyson Fury, who upset Wladimir Klitschko to claim the unified and lineal version of the championship and is set to defend the belts in a July rematch.

Of all the British champs, Joshua has the most buzz. He’s not only a fresh face and a gold medalist, but he wears a form of the heavyweight championship. His road to it was bogus, as it was a result of Fury being stripped of the IBF strap for granting Klitschko a certainly justifiable rematch, but the Brits could not care less.

Same is true of Showtime, which signed Joshua (16-0, 16 KOs) to an exclusive deal in the U.S. and will televise his June 25 title defense against American Olympian Dominic Breazeale (17-0, 15 KOs) from London’s O2 Arena. Tickets sold out in 30 minutes. Showtime is hoping Joshua becomes their Lennox Lewis, who for so long was a staple of HBO boxing.

“Now I get to build with the Americans,” Joshua said. “I’ve got friends out there, and we’re going to build to a wider audience. If we can keep on building and growing organically, by the time I come out there it will be unbelievable. Just like I’m at home.”

California nightmare

The California State Athletic Commission became a joke again last week when it decided to issue junior lightweight champion Francisco Vargas a temporary boxing license even though he tested positive for trace amounts of the banned steroid clenbuterol in a random test ahead of his June 4 title defense against Orlando Salido.

That fight is set to be televised by HBO from the StubHub Center in Carson. Vargas agreed to the testing by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, the Las Vegas organization headed by former ring physician Margaret Goodman that has campaigned to remove performance-enhancing drugs from boxing. The CSAC claimed the fact Vargas (23-0-1, 17 KOs) asked for VADA to oversee the drug testing was a mitigating factor in the decision to ignore its test result. Vargas claims the positive test was a result of eating beef stew made with contaminated meat in Mexico, a country that widely uses clenbuterol in livestock feed. The commission granted Vargas a temporary license and said he could fight as long as his remaining tests are clean.

If that makes sense, it’s only in California.

Manfredo ready

Old friend Peter Manfredo Jr. (40-7, 21 KOs) is launching a comeback Friday night at Twin River against Vladine Biosse in a 10-round super middleweight fight. Biosse (15-7-2, seven KOs) replaces Angel Camacho Jr., who broke his foot last week. The 35-year-old Manfredo, a Providence native, has not fought in two years but always draws a crowd in Rhode Island. . . .

According to Philippines president Benigno Aquino III, an Islamist terrorist group that allegedly beheaded a Canadian hostage recently had plans to kidnap Pacquiao. Abu Sayyaf militants are seeking independence for a province in the southern Philippines. “They allegedly even hatched plots to kidnap Manny Pacquiao or one of his children,” Aquino said. Pacquiao, whose run for the senate in the Philippines comes to a vote tomorrow, had no knowledge of the threat. . . .

Jezreel Corrales pulled a major upset when he knocked out long-reigning junior lightweight world title-holder Takashi Uchiyama in the second round in Tokyo. Corrales, 24, was the interim champion and Uchiyama’s mandatory challenger. The 36-year-old Uchiyama was undefeated and making his 12th title defense. . . .

The WBC announced it no longer will sanction fights in Ontario because the Ontario Athletic Commission continues to hold weigh-ins the morning of the fight. The WBC and other sanctioning bodies call for weigh-ins the day before the fight to give boxers adequate time to rehydrate after making weight. . . .

NBC Deportes aired a revealing interview with Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez last night and will re-air it tonight at 11:30. Chavez spoke publicly for the first time about his problems with addiction and his links to the drug lords in Culiacan, where he grew up and long has lived. He also calls his former promoter Don King“a deal with the devil.” He spoke also of having sunk so low into addiction he attempted suicide. Powerful stuff. . . .

Featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) will face junior featherweight title-holder Carl Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs) July 30 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Santa Cruz has been tending to his father, who is fighting cancer.