By Chris Williams: Undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. (41-0, 25 KO’s) apparently no longer needs to fight Manny Pacquiao to get huge money, as he made a guaranteed $22 million for his fight last Saturday night against World Boxing Association welterweight champion Shane Mosley. And Mayweather could end up making as much as $58 million if the fight ends up generating a minimum of 2 million pay-per-view buys. It’s not inconceivable that his fight with Mosley could end up being close to that number by the time the final PPV totals come in.

In an article by David Mayor of the Grand Rapids Press, Mayweather says “This is not bragging or boasting, but with or without Pacquiao, Floyd is going to be able to go out and make $20 million or $30 million a night. With or without him, I’m still able to do that.” Mayweather is right. He’s making huge cash no matter who he fights now and it seems a waste of time for him to be chasing after Pacquiao, when the Filipino fighter isn’t interested in taking the random Olympic style drug tests that Mayweather wants for all his fights.

Pacquiao has recently said that he would be willing to have his blood tested, but not close to the fight. This isn’t good enough for Mayweather, who wants Pacquiao to be tested all the way up to the fight. Mayweather appears to be in a power position with his win over Shane Mosley. That win has done a lot for Mayweather in terms of winning respect from boxing fans and writers. Pacquiao’s wins over Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey, both good victories, seem to have been put in the shadow by Mayweather’s shellacking of Mosley last Saturday night.

Mayweather attempted to put together a fight with Pacquiao a couple of months ago, but the fight fell through when Pacquiao didn’t want to have his blood tested within 24 days of the fight. At the time, Mayweather was very eager to make the fight happen. He seems less so now after getting the huge payday against Mosley.

At this point, Mayweather could take on WBC/WBO middleweight champion Sergio Martinez next if Pacquiao doesn’t change his mind about the random blood tests that Mayweather wants. A fight between Mayweather and Martinez would do really well, maybe as good as the Mayweather-Mosley fight did. Martinez has charisma and the Hollywood looks to generate a lot of interest. Martinez has a style of fighting that is similar to Mayweather’s with a lot of movement and speed.

Mayweather has this to say about Pacquiao: “I don’t think about no Pacquiao. I’m a boss, I only talk to bosses. He’s got to do numbers like I’m doing. What did him and Marquez do? 300,000, 400,000? Congratulations. Got to step his game up. Got to step his pay-per-view numbers up. I average 1.3 million, with ease. I’m Floyd Mayweather; they come to see me, regardless. I could fight three months, fight a fight a month and make $30 million, just like that. I could make $10 million a fight. This world is huge.”
Pacquiao may have missed the boat in getting a fight with Mayweather, because with Floyd’s win over Mosley, he’s not going to be willing to accept anything less than what he wants in negotiating a fight with Pacquiao. And that goes for pay cut and random blood tests.

The way that Mayweather looked against Mosley, it’s hard to see Pacquiao having much chance at beating Floyd. Mayweather appears to be on another level right now and unless he’s slows down, he’s probably going to stay at that level for while. Pacquiao should have taken the fight with Mayweather before he faced Mosley. Pacquiao also shouldn’t have fought Joshua Clottey. That fight did nothing for him, as it wasn’t the kind of opponent that would win him much respect in the boxing community. Pacquiao should have chosen Mosley, Andre Berto, Paul Williams or Sergio Martinez instead. They may not be Top Rank fighters like Clottey, but it’s a move that would have helped give him leverage for a fight with Mayweather. In hindsight, it was probably a bad move to take the Clottey fight instead of a more marketable fighter.