By Dan Ambrose: Floyd Mayweather Jr. had less than glowing things to say about Manny Pacquiao and Tim Bradley after watching their recent fight. Mayweather says he hadn’t seen Pacquiao fight since 2009 in his win over Miguel Cotto, and he thinks Pacquiao’s shots aren’t landing with the same pop as they did then. Mayweather also thought Pacquiao looked tired against Bradley in their rematch this month, and he hadn’t seen that from Pacquiao five years ago.
“I don’t see the same pop in Pacquiao’s shots. I don’t see the same snap in his shots,” Mayweather said in a teleconference. “He was getting tired, and he wasn’t getting tired before. With me, I’m still sharp, I’m still smart. I’m not getting fatigued. I think both fighters fought like amateurs. I’m seeing a totally different Pacquiao.”
As far as a fight between him and Pacquiao, Mayweather said “He’s with Bob Arum and I’m with Mayweather promotions.”
It looks like Mayweather is standing behind his stance that Pacquiao will need to leave his 82-year-old promoter Bob Arum if he wants to get a fight against him in the future. Pacquiao’s contract with Top Rank expires at the end of 2014, but he’s expected to re-sign for another 1-3 years. By re-signing with Top Rank, Pacquiao will likely be saying goodbye to any chance that he ever had of fighting Mayweather.
Bradley recently re-signed with Top Rank as well, and that move also likely ended any chance he has of fighting Mayweather unless Bradley is released by Top Rank before his contract expires. It’s not likely that Top Rank would let Bradley go early from his contract unless he starts losing more fight, and if that’s the case, he won’t get a fight against Mayweather anyway.
In looking at Pacquiao’s fight against Miguel Cotto in 2009 and then comparing it to how Pacquiao looked in the rematch with Bradley, there is quite bit of a difference in how Pacquiao fought and looked in that fight. He appeared much faster on his feet in the Cotto fight, more explosive with his punches, and stronger. There wasn’t a hint of fatigue from Pacquiao in that fight, and he was dangerous with every punch he threw. In the Bradley rematch, Pacquiao’s punches didn’t look as lethal, he was slower on his feet, and he did look tired. Pacquiao looked like a 35-year-old fighter laboring against a guy that was trying to KO him with every punch.
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