By Chris Williams: If Floyd Mayweather Jr. (49-0, 26 KOs) chooses to come back in 2016, he almost has to fight Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) to go for his 50th win of his career. The money is too good for Mayweather not to fight the 36-year-old Filipino fighter.
Mayweather and Pacquiao could face each other at the new Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. By then, many of the angry boxing fans will have forgotten about the disappointing fight between the two superstars last May at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
I’m not blaming Mayweather for the Pacquiao fight being less than memorable. Mayweather did what he was supposed to do in skillfully out-boxing Pacquiao and making him look like a limited fighter.
Pacquiao was the one who chose not to attack Mayweather hard to give himself a chance to win. I suppose it was the right hands that Mayweather kept landing in the fight that caused Pacquiao not to want to come forward to attack.
Mayweather won’t make the same money that he made the last time he fought Pacquiao, but I think he could snatch another $100 million in guaranteed money and possibly another $25 million to $50 million in PPV cash. Pacquiao could get maybe $50 million plus another $10 million from the PPV money. That’s good money for both fighters and a lot more than they’d make fighting other fighters.
It’ll nice for Mayweather to improve his record to 50-0 by taking Pacquiao’s scalp for the second time. A lot of new fans would be more than happy to see Mayweather add Pacquiao’s pelt to his collection a second time, and the old boxing fans won’t mind see him whip Pacquiao a second time.
Getting win No. 50 against Pacquiao would be a great way for Mayweather to sail off into the sunset and to pay the fans back for their devotion to him over the year.
For the Mayweather-Pacquiao to get the rematch with Mayweather, he’s going to need to win his next fight in February against whomever Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum sets him up against. Arum looks like he’s going to match him against a tough opponent like Amir Khan, and that’s a fight that Pacquiao could very well lose.
All the guys that Arum has mentioned for Pacquiao to potentially fight are guys that would have a good chance of beating him and sending him into retirement. We’re talking fighters like Lucas Matthysse, Terence Crawford and Kell Brook.
If Pacquiao loses his next fight, then there’s no pint in a second fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao taking place because I don’t think the interest would be there from the fans in a second fight under those circumstances.
Mayweather has made over $700 million in earnings during his career. If he can stick around for one or two more fights, I could easily see him gross over 1 billion in career earnings. That’s pretty incredible for a fighter because no one has come close to making the kind of money that Mayweather has made during his career.
Mayweather can make so much money if he comes back and fights Pacquiao next year. Mayweather can’t retire and leave that money on the table without coming back to scoop up every penny’s worth.
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