Former multi-division world champ and future first-ballot Hall of Famer Manny Pacquiao has been back in the gym, preparing for this Saturday’s 6-round exhibition bout with South Korean YouTuber DK Yoo at Seoul Arena in Seoul, South Korea. And that gym work must’ve started the competitive juices flowing once again in the Filipino icon.
Speaking to Lance Pugmire of FightHype.com, Pacquiao talked about his desire to avenge his loss to Floyd Mayweather, as well as his willingness to possibly face one of the present tense elites of the welterweight division.
“That depends on him because I am willing to have a rematch with him– a real fight, not an exhibition,” Pacquiao answered when asked about the possibility of a Mayweather rematch. “We need to answer those questions in the minds of the fans [That question being, per Pugmire’s follow-up probe, ‘Would a healthy Manny Pacquiao beat a healthy Floyd Mayweather?]
When asked about whether the loss to his longtime rival affected him, Pacquiao started out with candor and then finished off with a headline-grabbing declaration regarding Mayweather’s bravery (or lack thereof).
“Of course, I was affected the first one year,” Manny said. “People were asking when is the rematch, if there’s a rematch…A lot of people now are [still] asking when is the rematch with Floyd Mayweather…I tell them, I don’t think he will fight again. He is scared to death to have a rematch with me…He’s scared to death. That’s my analysis about him. He don’t want to fight me again.”
Then, when asked about his willingness to fight top welterweights, other than Mayweather, in “real,” non-exhibition bouts, Pacquiao affirmed that he could be moved to accept challenges from the likes of Terence Crawford and Errol Spence.
“Of course. I can fight Terence Crawford or Spence,” Manny said. “I’m eager to fight with them, to test them, [to see] if they are really a champion, because I’ve been fighting with a lot of fighters at 147, 140, 135…I’ve been fighting with the best fighters in the world. So, I want to test them.”
Pacquiao would double down on his competitive flow in another interview to hype Saturday’s exhibition bout when he was, once again, asked about a Mayweather rematch.
“I can beat him easily,” he said in the Triller video, provoking some shock and awe from the crew conducting the interview.
Mayweather beat Pacquiao via unanimous decision back in 2015 in what would be the most lucrative bout in the history of combat sports, generating around $600 million in revenue. The long-awaited contest would take years to materialize after disagreements over a multitude of issues (including drug testing protocol and revenue split) stalled negotiations several times and turned the two elite fighters (as well as their respective teams) into bitter enemies.
When the two greats eventually did meet in the ring, the bout was considered an anticlimactic bore of a contest with some pointing out that the bout took place too late in the fighters’ careers. Some doubt was also cast on the outcome when it was revealed that Pacquiao entered the contest with an injured shoulder.
Since that 2015 meeting, Mayweather has steadfastly rejected the idea of a rematch and would actually retire just two fights after the Pacquiao bout. He’s currently active on the exhibition circuit, recently stopping YouTuber Deji in an easy-money one-sided bout.
Pacquiao would fight seven more times following the Mayweather loss, going 5-2 and picking up two welterweight titles along the way. This Saturday’s bout with DK Yoo will be his first exhibition, with proceeds going to charity.
