COMMENTARY | Eight-division world champ and former pound-for-pound top fighter, Manny Pacquiao, usually has a legion of people speaking for him. From promoter Bob Arum to advisor Michael Koncz to a whole slew of other helpers and spokespeople, there’s no shortage of voices at the ready when Manny wants a message delivered.
This past Thursday, however, the Filipino icon opted to deliver his message himself on the subject of arch-nemesis, Floyd Mayweather.
“[Mayweather] is just a coward, insecure and envy my accomplishments,” Pacquiao told The Manila Times via DZAR Sunshine Radio. “I don’t like to bite his gimmicks and I just want to understand him, although it’s too much?But I’m really thankful that he always remember me in some ways.”
This uncharacteristically direct attack from Pacquiao comes after several weeks of Mayweather deriding Pacquiao’s qualifications for a bout and diminishing his overall accomplishments. According to various published statements, Mayweather, who has referred to Pacquiao as a “desperate dog,” seems to feel that the bout should no longer be negotiated on even terms and that Pacquiao, after having suffered two losses and diminishing buy rates on pay-per-view outings, now needs to make some deep, deep concessions before being considered as a possible foe. Among those concessions seems to be that Pacquiao must leave long-time promoter and former Mayweather hype man, Bob Arum.
“All the cards are in my hand,” Mayweather recently told Ben Thompson of Fighthype.com. “Pacquiao got pay-per-view number problems. Pacquiao’s boss name is Rob Arum. Pacquiao owes $68 million in taxes. Pacquiao’s got 5 losses. He still got Timothy Bradley problems and Marquez problems…So this guy’s got all these problems and he wants Floyd Mayweather to solve them for him, huh? First he didn’t need me; now he needs me.”
Pacquiao, on the other hand, holds steadfast in the assertion that he has been pursuing the mega-bout in good faith all along, but that Mayweather and his team keep creating obstacles to kill the possibility of making the fight.
“Top Rank already allowed us to directly negotiate with them [Mayweather] before but they never communicated with us,” Pacquiao said. “Mayweather Jr. is saying a lot of negative things against me but he doesn’t like to fight.
“We will consider everything but until now, they don’t like to fight. At the same time, people are saying the fight between us needs a trilogy, but how can it be possible if he’s not going to fight me first.”
It should be noted that, according to all published reports, there have only been two instances where Pacquiao and Mayweather were in direct contact over a proposed bout and on both of those occasions, it was Team Pacquiao that walked away.
Back in late 2009-early 2010, Team Pacquiao’s unwillingness to budge on random blood testing killed the first (and only) real negotiations. Then, a direct phone call from Mayweather to Pacquiao in 2012 and a flat offer to Pacquiao of $40 million was turned down.
Along the way, Pacquiao and his team have made plenty of public statements and offered concessions on both testing and money to the media, but nothing, really, when both sides were in a position to meet, face to face.
Now, it appears that Mayweather is more than willing to close the book on this chapter of his career unless he gets the fight 100% on his own terms and Pacquiao, from what we’ve just seen, continues to grow frustrated and angry.
The ever-impossible mega-fight, despite having made no progress since 2009, continues to rile up fans, confuse media, and, obviously, occupy the minds of both would-be participants.
