Last weekend’s viral video that claimed negotiations for Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. were about to begin in Saudi Arabia might be a false alarm, but it nonetheless proved there’s still massive interest for that fight to happen.
Floyd Mayweather Sr., the father and former trainer of Floyd Jr., really believed a second showdown between his son and the Filipino Boxing icon will eventually take place in a foreseeable future.
The newly-inducted Nevada Hall of Fame boxing trainer said he’s definitely rooting for a rematch to happen.
However, he warned Pacquiao that, like what happened in the first fight, he will still lose to his son because Floyd Jr.
is simply the smarter boxer of the two.
“I’m definitely looking forward to seeing them do it again. I am not worried about Pacquiao, he can’t outthink Floyd up here," Mayweather told EsNews during the press conference for the Ronald Johnson vs. Sergio Ramirez heavyweight fight at Sports Arena, Pico Rivera, California.
PacMayII looks inevitable
Pacquiao and Mayweather fought each other in a card billed as "The Fight of the Century" in 2015. The fight was a massive success, raking up to $500 million in total revenues. On the negative side, the fight did not live up to expectation as Mayweather hit and ran his way to an easy unanimous decision win.
After that, Mayweather fought one more professional fight with Andre Berto before he retired in late 2015.
He had a big payday against MMA star Conor McGregor in 2017 and Japanese kickboxing sensation Tenshin Nasukawa in December 2018, but these fights were nothing more than exhibition matches.
On the other hand, Pacquiao won five of his last six fights, the latest against previously undefeated Keith Thurman to wrest his WBA (Super) welterweight championship. He’s now in line to face the winner of the Errol Spence vs. Shawn Porter fight in September, though his camp is also considering Mikey Garcia and Danny Garcia as potential foes in 2020.
Sean Gibbons, the chief adviser of Pacquiao and head of MP Promotions, confirmed that they have been trying to convince Mayweather to come out of his retirement and fight his prizefighter for the second time.
Unfortunately for boxing fans, the undefeated American hasn’t budged a bit despite countless offers from Pacman’s camp.
He may tease a comeback here and there, but Mayweather seems content in his current role as a promoter and Instagram influencer.
“I always tell people, that’s a great question. We’ve done everything we had to do; I think that’s a question for Floyd Mayweather," Gibbons told World Boxing News.
Ready for the next opponent
Gibbons stressed Pacquiao will fight whichever opponent's presented to him, adding that the fighting Senator is not solely focused on the Mayweather fight.
The 40-year-old Pacman will take a break from boxing for the remainder of 2019, but clarified he has no plans to retire from the sport anytime soon.
Again, Mikey and Danny Garcia are atop Pacquiao’s wish list, but they are not ruling out a potential clash with the other welterweight kings: Spence (IBF), Porter (WBC) and Crawford (WBO). He also ruled out rematches with Jeff Horn and Thurman.
