Nothing is set in stone regarding Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s next fight in terms of an opponent, but with each passing day it seems less and less likely that Manny Pacquiao will be staring at him from across the ring.
Pacquiao and his camp have made lots of noise about wanting to fight Floyd and give boxing fans their coveted super fight, but Pacquiao's recent history has Mayweather turning up his nose.
"You know, a lot of times, it's hard to make fights...when you got a guy that when they keep trying to say this guy Pacquiao is on the same level as Floyd Mayweather, I say, well, me, honestly, in my eyes, that's not true...my pay-per-view number still is the best of any fighter in the history of the sport."
Pacquiao was given No. 1 contender status by the WBC for Mayweather's 147-lb. title, but even the threat of losing his strap hasn't swayed or pressured "Money." "Everybody's talking about the title he's the mandatory. He can have the belt! A belt don't make me. A belt doesn't define Floyd Mayweather."
Floyd went on to disparage Manny's resume and brought up his recent losses while dismissing his dominant win over Brandon Rios this past November in China.
"Here's the Manny Pacquiao story. Manny Pacquiao was at welterweight. He lost to Timothy Bradley, no matter how you cut it, how you slice it, he lost to Timothy Bradley. He got knocked out by Marquez. He came back and went the distance with a lightweight. And now all of a sudden, he's the mandatory for my title," Mayweather said. "But like I said before, put him in front of me, I'll beat him."
Beyond that, though, the major roadblock is that Mayweather fights on Showtime while Pacquiao is aligned with Top Rank and Bob Arum, who notably doesn't deal well with Mayweather.
Arum has made statements about being willing to sit and talk about making the match happen, but Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer calls it a big con.
"And the same day you are reading on USA Today that he's willing to make a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. Not a day later or a week later, but the same day, he announces Pacquiao is going to fight on April 12th at the MGM against one of three names," Schaefer said. "All of these media members are being fooled by this idiot. They actually think he wants to put a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight together."
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