Floyd Mayweather has ruled out fighting his great rival Manny Pacquiao, depriving boxing of a $300-million (about R3,12-billion) mega-fight.
The pound-for-pound No1, who is set to face Amir Khan in Las Vegas on May 3, claimed he could never work with Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum.
Instead, he added recently-crowned world champion Marcos Maidana’s name to his list of possible future opponents.
“We all know the Pacquiao fight, at this particular time, will never happen, and the reason why the fight won’t happen is because I will never do business with Bob Arum in life, and Pacquiao is Bob Arum’s fighter,” Mayweather told Fight Hype. “Bob Arum gives Pacquiao a date, whereas Floyd Mayweather gives Floyd Mayweather his own date.
“I will be fighting again in May and September.”
Mayweather also hinted that he does not believe the eight-division world champion is a big enough draw.
Pacquiao’s win over Brandon Rios in Macau last month achieved 475000 pay-per-view buys compared to 2,2-million for Mayweather’s masterclass against Saul Alvarez in September.
“I want to see Manny Pacquiao’s real pay-per-view numbers,” added Mayweather. “Get them from his last fight and compare them to my numbers with Canelo Alvarez.”
Maidana, meanwhile, shocked Adrien Broner in Texas with a comprehensive points victory. Broner, who had been hailed – largely by himself – as the heir to Mayweather’s throne, was deposed as the WBA’s welterweight champion.
“Maidana’s name is now in the lottery jackpot,”confirmed Mayweather.
The 36-year-old also backed Broner to bounce back from his first professional defeat.
“I think what a good move for him is May 3 on my undercard; you know, fight a solid guy at 140 (light-welterweight), get back on track and get his career in order.” – Daily Mail