THE perennially elusive Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao is โdefinitelyโ going to happen according to the American superstarโs father.
โIt’s gonna happen. That fight’s gonna happen. Trust me,” Floyd Mayweather Snr told fighthype.com. “That fight’s definitely gonna happen. It’s a fight for the world, man, right there. It’s the biggest fight that has ever been in life, so like I said, man, that fight’s gonna happen.”
However, any excitement should be tempered as Mayweather reacted to his fatherโs claims angrily.
โWell, my father is totally wrong,โ Mayweather Jnr said. โLike I said before, we have people constantly being removed from the Mayweather Promotions team, Team Mayweather, and we also have people being removed from The Money Team. I want my dad to be with my team, but if he continues to go out there and speak on things that he has no knowledge about without communicating with me, then I must get a new trainer. I’m just saying, when Pacquiao was sleeping, everybody was like, ‘Y’all crazy for trying to make that Mayweather-Pacquiao fight.’ You know what’s so crazy? I just look at the situation like this, ever since [Alex] Ariza left Pacquiao, he hasn’t had a knockout. What a coincidence!โ
Mayweather, 37, is scheduled to return in May 2015 but he has offered no indication of who heโll face. After beating Marcos Maidana in September, the WBC welterweight and light-middleweight champion offered mild interest in taking on the Filipino at some point in the future.
โI’m gonna go and talk to my team and see what the future holds,โ Mayweather said last month. โI don’t know who I’m fighting in May, but I expect to fight in May. Manny Pacquiao needs to focus on the guy in front of him. Once he gets past him, he can look to the future. If the Pacquiao fight presents itself, let’s make it happen.โ
Pacquiao, who takes on Chris Algieri on November 22, saw his form dip in 2012 with upset losses to Timothy Bradley (via highly controversial decision) and Juan Manuel Marquez. But subsequent victories over Brandon Rios, and Bradley, rekindled the publicโs interest in the Mayweather showdown.
The old issues remain, though. The 35-year-old Filipino remains under contract to Bob Arum, a promoter that Mayweather refuses to work with. The fighters are also represented by rival broadcasters, Showtime (Mayweather) and HBO (Pacquiao) which would greatly complicate any (increasingly unlikely) negotiations.
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