Manny Pacquiao reacts to Floyd Mayweather calling him an “OLD man”

By Boxing News - 05/25/2020 - Comments

By Jim Maltzman: Manny Pacquiao reacted to Floyd Mayweather Jr’s recent comments calling him an “old man” by saying that he’s just “ENVIOUS” because he’s retired now and he doesn’t have a world title.

The 41-year-old Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) recently beat the previously undefeated WBA Super World welterweight Keith’ One Time’ Thurman (29-1, 22 KOs) by a 12 round split decision on July 20 last year in an impressive victory.

Up until recently, Thurman had been considered the #1 fighter in the 147-pound division, and Pacquiao showed that he’s not the top fighter in the weight class any longer.

Mayweather gave an interview this month, saying that he saw it as “sad” that the fighters are “chasing” after a fight against Pacquiao, who he referred to as an “OLD-man,” and he felt that they should be looking to face other fighters.

Image: Manny Pacquiao reacts to Floyd Mayweather calling him an "OLD man"

Pacquiao will be turning 42-years-old in December, but he’s still fighting a high level an looking like someone in their late 20s. The Filipino star has aged well and found the Fountain of Youth to preserve himself. In contrast, Mayweather looked slow and sluggish in his last fight three years ago against Conor McGregor in 2017.

At the time of the fight, Mayweather was 40-years-old, younger than Pacquiao is today, but he appeared almost elderly in his performance.

Pacquiao: Mayweather is “envious”

“He is just envious because he’s already retired. We’re still active and have a crown,” Pacquiao said to The Manila Times.

“We’re still active and have a crown,” said Pacquiao.

There’s no reason for Pacquiao to retire right now. He’s making good money fighting, and he’s incredibly wealthy. Pacquiao has a net worth of $220 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. As you can tell, Pacquiao isn’t hurting financially. Although Mayweather’s net worth is hovering around $1 billion, Pacquiao is quite wealthy himself.

Mayweather’s comments on Pacquiao

“It’s sad that you hear guys say, ‘I want to fight Manny Pacquiao,” said Mayweather Jr. to Fighthype. “But Manny Pacquiao is 41 now. Don’t chase him. You young guys chase each other. But stop chasing this old man. If the opportunity presents itself, go out and do what you got to do.”

Many boxing fans believe that Mayweather retired TOO SOON by hanging up his gloves at age 38 after his win over Andre Berto in 2015. Mayweather was still roughly in his prime at that age, and he hung up his gloves and walked with a lot left in the tank. In hindsight, you can argue that was a blunder on Mayweather’s part to retire that early.

Image: Manny Pacquiao reacts to Floyd Mayweather calling him an "OLD man"

Is Mayweather envious of Pacquiao?

The other mistake was for Mayweather to end his career on a weak note by fighting the past his prime Andre Berto, who was little more than a fringe contender at that point in his career. Berto had already beaten by the likes of Victor Ortiz, Robert Guerrero, and Jesus Soto Karass.

There was nothing for Mayweather to gain in fighting Berto other than making himself look soft in taking that fight. Fans wanted to see Mayweather show some courage by facing Thurman or Errol Spence Jr, who both were making waves in the division.

The real question is, why is Mayweather recommending that other fighters not chase after the “old man” Pacquiao? Is this a situation where Mayweather is trying to help Pacquiao by getting the top fighters to back off from him?

If that’s the rationale for the 43-year-old Mayweather to be telling the young boxers to chase Manny, it’s not helping the Filipino star.

Pacquiao wants to face the best, and it’s possible that we could see him share the ring soon with the likes of Mikey Garcia or IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence. WBO champion Terence Crawford is also one of the options for Pacquiao’s next fight. In other words, Pacquiao isn’t giving up on wanting to fight the lions in the 147-pound division,

Retirement not in Pacquiao’s plans

“I’m not thinking about that yet. I’m concerned first and foremost about our countrymen. No retirement [plans] yet. Yes, I’m still training,” said Pacquiao.

The pandemic is occupying the senator Pacquiao’s mind right now in the Philippines, and it’s unknown when he plans on resuming his professional career. Whether Pacquiao fights again or not is unclear. It sounds like Manny still intends on competing, but the current situation makes that difficult. He’s dealing with this situation, and it’s got to be hard for the talented champion to resume training for his next fight.

Mayweather beat an injured Pacquiao in 2015 by a 12 round decision in ‘The Fight of the Century’ in Las Vegas, Nevada. Both fighters made a ton of money from the match. However, afterward, it was learned that Pacquiao had a shoulder problem that hampered his effectiveness.

After undergoing shoulder surgery and rehab, Pacquiao expressed interest in facing Mayweather again in a rematch, but he’s shown a desire to get back in the ring against him.

Even now, five years later, Mayweather still has no interest in fighting Pacquiao, even though he could probably make more money fighting him than one of the MMA guys that he’s been facing in the last three years.

The boxing world wants to see Mayweather come out of retirement to fight Pacquiao in a rematch, but the ‘Money’ man has made it clear that he’s retired from fighting boxers. If he does resume his career, it’ll be for “entertainment” purposes.

Image: Manny Pacquiao reacts to Floyd Mayweather calling him an "OLD man"

Floyd not showing interest in facing boxers

Mayweather doesn’t say what he means by that, but fans assume that it’s code for Floyd facing more MMA fighters in exhibition-level boxing matches. It is kind of sad to see Mayweather putting his efforts into facing non-boxers in exhibition fights because these aren’t fights where it’s evenly balanced.

The guys that Mayweather is facing have no chance of beating him, considering that they don’t come from a boxing background. Any famous fighter would take criticism from fans if they retired and then focused on putting together boxing matches against the elite-level MMA fighters. However, the public doesn’t seem to mind as of yet.

We’ll see if their interest continues in the future if Mayweather decides to face yet another UFC fighter. Some believe Mayweather will be fighting a rematch with McGregor or possibly face Khabib.

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