Little hope of Pacquiao-Mayweather bout
By Jim Slater, 9 Nov 2011 Jim Slater is a Roar Rookie
- Tagged:
- Boxing, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao
Manny Pacquiao offered no extra hope to fans that he will fight Floyd Mayweather next year, but his trainer says the long-awaited showdown might be the only challenge left for the Filipino icon.
Pacquiao was greeted by hundreds of well-wishers on Tuesday as he arrived at Las Vegas for his Saturday fight against Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez, but he was ho-hum about Mayweather’s pitch last week for a May 5 fight.
“What I’ve done, I’m happy (with),” Pacquiao said on Tuesday. “Whatever fight my promoter gives me I’ll take it and fight hard. We haven’t made a decision about the next opponent. After this fight, I’m just waiting for the next.”
Unbeaten Mayweather, Pacquiao’s main rival as the world’s top pound-for-pound fighter, has not made a deal to fight the Asian southpaw even though such a bout would likely bring $US50 million ($A48 million) for each fighter – if it ever happens.
“I think that fight has to happen,” said Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer. “It needs to happen because it’s the only challenge out there (for Pacquiao). I don’t see any other challengers.”
Even so, Pacquiao’s camp made it clear Mayweather’s hand-picking a date and site for his next fight and then offering to fight “Pac-Man” is unacceptable.
“I’m kind of tired of Floyd,” Roach said. “Shut up and fight or not. We’ll fight him any day of the week. Who is he to make the rules?
“If that fight doesn’t happen, I’m not going to cry.”
Roach said Mayweather needs to face Pacquiao to give his unbeaten record legitimacy, saying “there will be questions” if he does not, and said Mayweather’s defensive style has produced unspectacular fights, calling the Marquez bout “a much more exciting fight than Mayweather”.
That is, in part, because Pacquiao is passionate after Marquez has claimed he truly won their prior fights, a 2004 draw and a Pacquiao split-decision victory in 2008 that was decided by one point on one judge’s scorecard.
“He disrespected me. The most important thing to me is respect,” Pacquiao said. “I’m not mad at him. I’m not mad at anybody. It’s about what I need to prove.”
Pacquiao wants to silence Marquez once and for all, saying that took priority over the $US30 million ($A29 million) payday he will have for the fight compared to the career-best $US5 million ($A4.8 million) Marquez will make.
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The Crowd Says (2) | Page 1 of Comments
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- Explore:
- Boxing, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao
November 12th 2011 @ 12:48am
Allan said | November 12th 2011 @ 12:48am | Report comment
A few things to say. First, floyd’s 42-0 score card means nothing if he is being alleged in picking his fight. Chances are, 2 years after he retires, he’ll be forgotten and everytime he waves his flag, he will be remembered to a boxer who picks fight, which explains his 0 loss. Why, because, everybody is saying fight Pacman who we believe can beat you. but does not want to, so this gives more leverage to the allegations. If he beats pacquioa, then yes, he is the best. but until then, he is a fight picker. Pacquiao on the other hand will always bring excitement to the boxing world everytime he is remembered, just like Ali. A story of a skinny poor boy from the Philippines has reached great fame in boxing. Meanwhile Mayweather jr? yeah the blabber mouth. Also, as regular man on the street, you can’t compare 42-0 (Floyd) to a 53-3 (Pacquioa) score cards. 53 is still higher than 42, simple math. When Floyd reaches 56-0, then you can say yeah, he is better than Pacquioa. Until then, 53 is still better than 42.
November 13th 2011 @ 8:51am
Kane said | November 13th 2011 @ 8:51am | Report comment
Yeah 53 is better than 42 however there are still five fights that Manny hasn’t won, that’s still nearly 10% of his fights. Floyd on the other hand has left the ring the winner every single time. Please don’t say he does not want to fight Manny because he agreed to only if Manny had a blood drug test a week prior to the fight and a urine test afterwards.