LAS VEGAS: After running his unbeaten streak to 47 straight fights with a convincing win over Argentine Marcos Maidana on Saturday (Sunday in Manila), Floyd Mayweather is raising the possibility of a much-awaited match with Filipino boxing idol Manny Pacquiao next year.
Mayweather, who hasn’t lost a fight since the 1996 Olympics, defended his World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council welterweight belts and the WBC junior middleweight belt, pounding out a unanimous decision victory in his rematch with Maidana.
After the fight, the American told reporters he plans to fight twice more in 2015 and one of those fights could be against Pacquiao.
He denied he is avoiding the Filipino star and said if a deal can be worked out, he would go for it.
“I will go back and talk to my team,” Mayweather said. “I am not ducking or dodging no opponent. If a Manny Pacquiao fight presents itself, then let’s make it happen.”
“In the past, if you look at Pacquiao when he fought (Juan Manuel) Marquez, he was too focused on Floyd Mayweather instead of the guy in front of him and you saw what happened,” he said, recalling Pacquiao’s defeat.
But he said Pacquiao is “not my focus” at the moment. “I want to enjoy my time off. We don’t know who we going to be fighting. We are not in a rush. We are the A side and we are going to take our time,” he said.
The Filipino ring icon had been aching to fight Mayweather and had even agreed to submit to a drug test to make it happen.
But Mayweather always came up with excuses to avoid what is being billed as “the mega fight” with Pacquiao.
Another possible Mayweather opponent is British boxer Amir Khan, who sat ringside at Saturday’s fight.
“Of course, Amir Kahn would be a potential opponent,” said Leonard Ellerbe, chief executive of Mayweather Promotions. “Amir Khan is a very good fighter just like a lot of other potential opponents.”
On Saturday, Mayweather was ahead in all the judges’ cards. Two scored it 116-111 and the third had it 115-112 for the champion.
“I didn’t stay on the ropes. That was the difference,” Mayweather said. “I felt I did better in the first fight. This fight I felt dry and dead.”
AFP