MANILA, Philippines – An impressive victory by Manny Pacquiao against Brandon Rios in November may revive talks about the long-awaited showdown between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Pacquiao, winless in two fights last year, will face Rios in a non-title welterweight bout on Nov. 24 at The Venetian in Macau, hoping to get back to the winner?s circle.
Mayweather, who slayed Robert ?The Ghost? Guerrero last May, is scheduled to meet Canelo Alvarez on Sept. 14 in Las Vegas, and is, of course, tipped to win.
Pacquiao?s adviser, Michael Koncz, said they are still open to a fight with the undefeated Mayweather ? if the public still wants to see the fight.
Pacquiao just got re-elected to Congress, and Koncz said the 34-year-old superstar is now starting to focus on his coming fight, his first following a terrifying knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez last December.
?Right now, Manny?s focused on Brandon Rios, but Floyd is always a possibility. We?ve always said that we would fight Floyd,? Koncz told www.ringTV.com. Sportshub ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
?I think that Manny will have to have an impressive win in light of comments that Floyd has made about Manny losing his last two fights, and I think that if Manny has an exciting and impressive win come Nov. 24, then Floyd won?t have any excuse if he really wants to fight.?
Mayweather has repeatedly said that a fight with Pacquiao ?no longer holds weight? because the latter just lost two in a row, including a questionable decision to Tim Bradley last June.
But everything may change, according to Koncz, if Pacquiao wins impressively against Rios.
Koncz did not say if they would pursue the Mayweather fight even if the 36-year-old American, undefeated in 44 fights, loses to Alvarez, who is undefeated himself (42-0-1).
The Canadian adviser to the Filipino ring icon said Pacquiao would rather face Mayweather than go after Marquez or Bradley next year.
?We gave them (Marquez and Bradley) an option, and we were intending to pay them fairly ($13 million and $6 million, respectively), and they chose not to fight us, so that?s their loss, not ours,? Koncz told Lem Satterfield of www.ringTV.com.
Koncz added that only thing that matters is if Mayweather, who said he will retire after five more fights, really wants to face Pacquiao.
Pacquiao has already agreed to take random testing as Mayweather had always wanted, and is even willing to settle a 40/60 share of the purse.
Pacquiao, according to Koncz, has no problems either with the cable guys, whether it?s Showtime or HBO that would carry the fight.
?Manny?s not tied to any network, so if the fans still want to see this fight, we?re willing to do it,? said Koncz.
But first, Pacquiao has to be impressive against Rios.
