Mayweather wants Manny tiff to happen

MANILA, Philippines - Floyd Mayweather rolled past Marcos Maidana in their rematch last Sunday, gave himself a passing grade, and said in the middle of the ring that he’s not ducking Manny Pacquiao.

Mayweather, as expected, was the smarter fighter than Maidana, and won on all three scorecards – by a mile. He got hit a couple of times, was pushed to the ground, took a bite in the hand but won just the same.

The 37-year-old American pushed his record to 47-0 with just a couple more fights in his $200 million contract with Showtime. He may be running out of time to face Pacquiao.

During the post-fight interview, Mayweather faced the inevitable question.

Will he ever fight Pacquiao inside the ring?

“I’m going back to my team and see what we can assess and see what the future holds for Floyd Mayweather,” was the answer.

At first it sounded like he was ducking the question.

“I’m ducking no opponent,” he continued, amid cheers and jeers from the crowd that witnessed a lopsided fight live, and may have felt it was better if they went somewhere else instead. 

Mayweather, who claims to be the greatest boxer ever, as the big bold letters in his baseball cap suggests (TBE for The Best Ever), will also be remembered as the one who didn’t fight Pacquiao.

Juan Manuel Marquez fought Pacquiao four times, Erik Morales thrice and Marco Antonio Barrera twice. These are legendary Mexican fighters who faced the Filipino each time the opportunity came.

The other great champions took the Pacquiao challenge – Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley, Ricky Hatton and Oscar dela Hoya.

The Pacquiao fight, which could easily surpass all boxing revenues, has hounded Mayweather the last three, four or five years. A couple of times it came close to happening.

But on both occasions, talks bogged down.

This time, Mayweather sounded like he’s considering it.

“If the Manny Pacquiao fight presents itself let’s make it happen,” said Mayweather, who’s looking at his next fight in May next year.

He said more than a month ago he’s got a big surprise for everybody in May 2015. And fight fans are hoping it’s the fight against Pacquiao.

“I don’t know who I’m fighting in May but I expect to fight in May,” he said yesterday.

Pacquiao, with a handful losses but with his pride still intact, is scheduled to climb the ring in November in Macau, against the undefeated Chris Algieri.

“Manny Pacquiao needs to focus on the guy that’s in front of him,” Mayweather suggested.

“Once he gets past that test then we’ll see what the future holds,” he said.

Pacquiao was thousands of miles away when Mayweather fought Maidana in the rematch.

Often times, the Filipino superstar skips watching Mayweather fights on television. It’s either he’s in church, being a Sunday, or he’s with his family.

Last Saturday, Pacquiao welcomed magician David Blaine to his mansion in General Santos City, and he got a very close look at the American illusionist and his bag of tricks.