By Patrick White: As reported by Eddie G. Alinea, Manny Pacquiao will insist upon Floyd Mayweather being his next opponent when he meets with his promoter Bob Arum on Tuesday.

Speaking via telephone interview, the eight-weight division champion was uncharacteristically direct about his intention to fight Mayweather next, stating, “I’ve said this over and I’m saying this again, I want Floyd Mayweather Jr. to be my next opponent”.

Further adding, “I am meeting with my promoter tomorrow and I will insist that the fight with Mayweather be given preference [sic] than the four others in the list”.

While this is undoubtedly a very promising development for anybody interested in seeing a Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown, the Filipino’s statement is particularly interesting in the light of comments made by Bob Arum recently.

Speaking to the Manila Bulletin on Sunday, Arum said that staging the fight on May the 5th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas – a time and place that, one can only assume, Mayweather is either demanding and/or contractually obliged to hold his next bout at – “makes no sense at all”.

According to Arum, the imperative to “maximize” the earning potential of the fight means it will not happen on May the 5th; as not holding the bout in a temporary outdoor arena on the Las Vegas strip would mean losing a possible $20 million in gate receipts.

Given these remarks by Arum, Pacquiao’s insistence that he wants to Mayweather as his next opponent – assuming that the Filipino is in full possession of the above facts – strongly implies that Pacquiao really does want the Mayweather fight.

Pacquiao could easily have recapitulated the monetary considerations expressed by Arum, or simply issued one of his characteristically vacuous statements about the matter, but instead he chose to publically, and explicitly, veto his promoter concerning the Mayweather fight.

Combine this with the fact that Pacquiao has now agreed to the unlimited Olympic-style blood tests that Mayweather demanded, agreed to a smaller percentage of the fight-purse, and it becomes all but impossible to claim that Pacquiao is ducking the fight.

The relevant questions than seem to be as follows. Will Pacquiao will be able to sustain his conviction to fight Mayweather next if Arum attempts to persuade him otherwise. And does Mayweather really want the fight?

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