After winning a record seventh world title in his seventh weight division Saturday night, Manny Pacquiao and his team fielded the questions about his next logical opponent: Floyd Mayweather Jr.
"It's the promoter who makes the fights," Pacquaio said about a potential Mayweather clash. "My job is to fight in the ring."
When asked, Floyd Mayweather usually answers in a similar fashion.
But if the fighters don’t want to talk about it, the fans certainly do. The crowd started chanting “Bring on Floyd!” prior to the end of the bout. HBO commentators Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant and Emanuel Steward were already theorizing about it. The crowd roared when Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach mentioned that it was the fight he wanted in the ring after Pacquiao’s beating of Miguel Cotto.
"Sure, we'll fight Mayweather, if he wants to," Roach said.
Prior to retiring in 2008, Floyd Mayweather was considered the consensus pound for pound king of boxing following victories over Zab Judah, Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton. Upon his retirement, Pacquiao rose to prominence with impressive stoppage wins over De La Hoya, Hatton and now Cotto.
Mayweather’s retirement proved to be nothing more than a hiatus. Earlier this year Mayweather returned to face lightweight champ Juan Manuel Marquez.
Floyd earned himself an easy lopsided decision in that fight. Considering Marquez is the only fighter in recent memory to make Pacquiao look human (fighting him to a draw and split decision loss), it was impressive to see Mayweather win so handily.
From a boxing perspective: Pacquiao defeated De La Hoya and Hatton in far more impressive fashion than Mayweather. On the other side of the coin, Mayweather defeated Marquez far more convincingly than Pacquiao. He also fought De La Hoya and Hatton prior to Pacquiao, leading to the possibility that he fought both men closer to their prime than Pacquiao. All of these intangibles make it a must see fight.
From a business perspective: Mayweather sold over 2 million PPV’s for his fight against Oscar De La Hoya, just under a million against Hatton and surprisingly over a million against Marquez. Pacquiao sold over 1 million against De Le Hoya, just under a million against Pacquiao and though official numbers are not yet know, it is believed that his fight with Cotto will surpass over a million buys. All of these numbers lead to huge numbers if Pacquiao and Mayweather were to meet.
It’s the best fight and most significant fight than can be made in boxing at this time. It’s the most lucrative fight that can be made, possibly of all time.
To the promoters, managers, advisors and fighters: Make it happen. It would be a shame if it didn’t.
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