By Allan Fox: Floyd Mayweather Jr is not interested in giving Manny Pacquiao a rematch despite the enormous amount of interest fans have in seeing them battle it out a second time.
Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) was asked if he could make a lot of money fighting Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) again, and he immediately dismissed the idea, saying that he made more money facing Conor McGregor in 2017.
What seemed evident in the way that Mayweather rejected the idea of fighting Pacquiao again is he doesn’t want to take the risk of losing to him. Mayweather barely beat an INJURED Pacquiao by a 12 round unanimous decision five years ago on May 2, 2015.
The scores were 116-112, 116-112, and 118-110. But that was a one-armed Pacquiao, who fought with a hurt shoulder.
Since then, Pacquiao had come back from surgery and is fighting at arguably as high a level at 41 as he was when he was in his prime in his late 20s.
In Pacquiao’s last contest, he beat previously undefeated WBA 147-pound champion Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman by a 12 round split decision in July 2019.
Pacquiao would be a massive favorite over Mayweather
If Mayweather and Pacquiao fought today, Manny would likely be a considerable favorite to win that fight because he’s still competing.
Unlike Mayweather, Pacquiao, 41, has stayed active with his career, and he would be bad news for the retired 43-year-old Floyd if he fought him now.
That could be why Mayweather is so hesitant about stepping inside the ring with Manny for a second time because it likely wouldn’t go well for him. Mayweather betrays his fears by constantly dismissing the idea of fighting Pacquiao.
There’s no reason why Mayweather shouldn’t take that fight. After all, he would likely make close to $100 million, which is around one-tenth of Mayweather’s $1 billion fortune. With that kind of money at stake, how does Mayweather not take that fight against Pacquiao if he believes he can win?
The way Pacquiao fought against Thurman last year, Mayweather would have a lot of problems trying to deal with him. In Mayweather’s two fights against MMA guys Conor McGregor and Tenshin Nasukawa, he had lost a lot of hand speed and wasn’t the same guy that he once was. That version of Mayweather would be a sitting duck against Pacquiao right now.
Mayweather not interested in fighting Pacquiao
“I’m a businessman now. I already proved years and years ago that I’m the best period,” said Mayweather to rapper Fat Joe when asked what would be the biggest fight for him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRf8IiCjnnI
“I’m already talking about pound-for-pound, I already proved all that. At my age now, I’m a businessman, so I’m not going to be out there competing and fighting guys that only have a small city behind them.
“You’ve got a lot of American fighters that are good, but they only have a city behind them. I’m going to fight guys that have a whole country behind them. So I know and can demand and get what I want to get.
“Listen, I made more against [Conor] McGregor,” said Mayweather when asked about a fight between him Manny Pacquiao doing well. “Once again, my faculties and everything I’ve got come first. We just talked about your health is your wealth.
“That’s why I have this towel on. I was working out today. Now, Pacquiao fights because he has to. Once again, I fight because I want to. There’s a difference,” said Mayweather.
The question that Fat Joe was asking Mayweather was about whether he could make good money fighting Pacquiao. Rather than agree with Fat Joe, Mayweather made light of the money he could make against Manny by saying he made more against McGregor.
If you dissect why Mayweather would comment on that, it suggests strongly that he wants no part of fighting Pacquiao. Mayweather can’t fight McGregor again and make the same kind of money as before because the boxing and MMA public are hip to what a fight like that would be like.
In other words, fans would view Mayweather vs. McGregor II as a wretched money-grab on their part, and they would not want any part of it.
Floyd disagrees that Pacquiao wasn’t in his prime when he fought him
“We keep saying at my prime. I’m older than Pacquiao by two years,” said Mayweather when asked about criticism he’s received for waiting until Manny was no longer in his prime when he fought him in 2015.
“So when I beat Pacquiao, they say he wasn’t in his prime.’ I’m older than you, and then when I fought Oscar De La Hoya, they say he’s old. Me and Oscar were both in our 30s. So no matter what happens, it’s never good enough for anyone.
As long as I’m happy, that’s what’s important, and what happened with the [Pacquiao] fight was this. Remember, I was the pioneer or fandom blood and urine testing for all athletes so that we can all be on an even playing field.
“I feel like everyone should be on an even playing field. We all should be equal. That’s the same thing that our people are fighting for right now, meaning that we want to be treated like everybody else. Don’t judge me by the color of my skin because I’m not judging you for the color of your skin.
“And it works like this: When Conor McGregor said disrespectful stuff, talking about dance boy, and then they called us monkeys, said dance boy, nobody got behind Floyd Mayweather. You know this is so crazy like I said before.
“When it’s racism among blacks, it’s called colorism. So it’s racism among our people, of course, right now. That’s why every day I’m happy because you know what? I did it for myself, and I did it for my children, and I made sacrifices,” said Mayweather.
Pacquiao was still at his best when he fought Mayweather, but he was injured and not 100%. That much is clear. Had that fight taken place when Pacquiao was firing on all eight cylinders, Mayweather would have had a lot to deal with on the night.