By Allan Fox: In an odd challenge, Manny Pacquiao posted on social media on Sunday challenging Floyd Mayweather Jr. to fight. Pacquiao was working out with Chinese billionaire Jack Ma. The 41-year-old Pacquiao said he wants the rematch with Mayweather. He then offered Mayweather to fight the 55-year-old Ma in an exhibition. Out of those two offers, Mayweather would likely be far more interested in the exhibition match against Ma.
Mayweather is done with boxing
It’s abundantly clear at this point that the 42-year-old Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) is done with boxing in terms of facing real fighters. He’s now just scraping together fights every now and then against MMA guys. Pacquiao is still in the game, so that likely makes him unsuitable for Mayweather.
“Floyd Mayweather, if you want a rematch fight, fight me. If you want an exhibition, my guy, my friend, Jack Ma will take care of you. The Real Manny Team,” said Pacquiao on his Twitter.
“I’m ready anytime and anyplace. Manny’s Team is ready. Yeah, that’s right,” said Ma.
Message to Mayweather! pic.twitter.com/nS3K9a0SCY
— Manny Pacquiao (@MannyPacquiao) October 27, 2019
It’s probably too late for a rematch between Pacquiao and Mayweather. Pacquiao is better off facing relevant fighters like Errol Spence Jr. or Terence Crawford. Manny needs to let Mayweather enjoy his retirement, and continue with his exhibition matches against non-boxers.
Mayweather beat Pacquiao in 2015
Pacquiao lost to Mayweather by a 12 round unanimous decision on May 2, 2015 in ‘The fight of the Century.’ It was a fight that failed to live up to expectations. Mayweather mostly boxed, and looked old. Pacquiao looked tentative after getting caught with right hands from Mayweather early on while trying to attack him. Afterwards, Pacquiao revealed that he had a shoulder injury before the fight.
Mayweather hasn’t fought against true boxer since his win over Andre Berto in 2015. Since then, Mayweather has fought former UFC star Conor McGregor in a fight that surprisingly was sanctioned as a professional boxing match in Las Vegas in 2017. On December 31, 2018, Mayweather destroyed Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasugawa in a 1st round knockout after dropping him three times. Mayweather reportedly mad $9 million for the one round blowout.
The problem with Mayweather only fighting against non-boxers is that at some point the fans won’t want to continue watching these farces. If Mayweather isn’t going to return to professional boxing, he’s going to get diminishing returns if he continues fighting MMA guys.
Pacquiao is coming off of a 12 round decision win over Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman last July. That was a great performance by Manny in beating one of the top welterweights in the division. Shawn Porter is reportedly interested in facing Manny. That would be a good fight. Yeah, it’s not Mayweather, but it’s an opponent that the boxing world would be interested in seeing Pacquiao fight.