Manny Pacquiao could fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. at least once next year, but some believe that Money is avoiding Pacman.
Among those people is ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith, who said during First Take recently that if Mayweather doesn’t fight Pacquiao in his first fight of 2015, then Money would definitely be the one who has been “avoiding” Pacman all this time.
Mayweather slammed the accusation by attacking Smith’s credibility.
“Listen, I don’t give two flying [expletive] what Stephen A. Smith say. I ain’t never seen Stephen A. Smith dribble a basketball, catch a football, or box, so I can give two flying [expletive what Stephen A. Smith say. Quote me on that!" Mayweather Jr. told Fight Hype.
“When it’s all said and done, Stephen A. Smith has a boss that he has to answer to, you know what I’m sayin’. Floyd Mayweather is his own boss. I move when I want to, I say what I want to say, and I do what I want to do,” Mayweather said.
The comments come after it appeared that Mayweather said that he wants to fight Amir Khan next, as opposed to Pacquiao.
“My Dad is desperate for me to take the Khan fight, he just wants me to shut the kid up and put him down,” Mayweather Jr. was quoted by the Daily Mail.
“My Dad doesn’t like fighters trash talking his son – but he knows as well as I do that if the fight happen–then I am going to punish him. If he thinks he can trash talk me and get away with it he needs to think again.”
“My Dad wants the fight, I want to put him on his backside, so hopefully we can make it happen,” he added.
It’s believed that both Mayweather and Pacquiao will retire soon, after several more fights, and fans and analysts want them to fight each other before they grow any older.
“The older they get, the less intriguing that fight gets. I don’t want to see two over-the-hill guys. I don’t wanna see an over-the-hill Pacquiao and an over-the-hill Mayweather fight each other. I want to see two guys at the top of their game both still beating the hell out of people,” trainer Jack Loew told Fight Hype.
Loew, who is best known for his work with former world middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, questioned whether Pacquiao could beat Mayweather.
“Two years to three years ago, right before Pacquiao got knocked out, honestly I’m wondering what Pacquiao would do against a top-notch fighter like Floyd because that knockout he took against Marquez, that shit effects fighters right there. Mayweather is an A-level fighter, so how would Pacquiao approach that fight,” he said.
Loew believes that the only way to beat Mayweather is to “fight him like Maidana did in their first fight,” giving him a good fight right off the bat.
Although Floyd Mayweather Jr has yet to announce his plans for 2015, his father has no doubt that a fight against Manny Pacquiao will happen.
"It's gonna happen. That fight's gonna happen. Trust me," Floyd Mayweather Sr told fighthype.com. "That fight's definitely gonna happen. It's a fight for the world, man, right there. It's the biggest fight that has ever been in life, so like I said, man, that fight's gonna happen."
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Mayweather Sr said his son never told him that the fight was in his plans, but with his son saying he will retire after finishing the two fights left on his six-fight Showtime deal, he believes all signs point to the megafight with Pacquiao.
"[I'll] tell you right now, he never told me the fight's gonna happen, but ... the fight's gonna happen," Mayweather Sr told the website. "You mark my words, and we'll see."
The 37-year-old Mayweather Jr, who is 47-0 with 26 knockouts and holds the welterweight and light-middleweight titles, has yet to divulge his future plans other than he expects to fight somebody in May.
"I'm gonna go and talk to my team and see what the future holds," Mayweather said last month after his second victory over Marcos Maidana. "I don't know who I'm fighting in May, but I expect to fight in May. Manny Pacquiao needs to focus on the guy in front of him. Once he gets past him, he can look to the future. If the Pacquiao fight presents itself, let's make it happen."
The 35-year-old Pacquiao, who next defends his welterweight title on November 22 against Chris Algieri in Macau, has said that a fight against Mayweather "could happen" in 2015.
He even took a few jabs at Mayweather last month on Twitter, saying, "He acts like an uneducated person" and that "he should fear God."
Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum said recently that HBO and Showtime/CBS have been holding talks about working together on a joint pay-per-view.
It remains to be seen whether a deal can be made - it has gone unmade for years despite intense public demand - but count former champion Sugar Ray Leonard among those who want to see it happen.
"They should fight ... That fight would be huge," Leonard told Fox 11 Los Angeles last month. "I think fans are starving for excitement. Fans are starving for competition, evenly matched fights. But it would be huge."
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