After preserving his immaculate career record and keeping his multiple welterweight titles against challenger Marcos Maidana last September 13, Floyd Mayweather continues to avoid facing Manny Pacquiao in the ring despite potential record-breaking purse.
For five years Pacquiao has been courting Mayweather like a desperate suitor?short of sending him flowers?to bolster his lingering proposal for the most awaited date in the ring.. The Filipino boxing star has stated many times in the past that he is pursuing the fight with Mayweather in order to give his millions of fans around the world the fight that they have been wanting to see over the past five years. Pacquiao acceded to everything that Mayweather had demanded that included contentious issues from purse sharing to random blood and urine testing.Read more. Still, Mayweather continues to ignore his invitation for a face-to-face date in the ring despite Pacquiao’s non-stop follow-up. The latest demands by the unbeaten champ is for Pacquiao to sign up with Mayweather Promotions, a Las Vegas-based promotions company that Mayweather owns. He also demanded that the fight be covered by CBS/Showtime. Mayweather has a live $200 million contract with Showtime and has two more fights left under the giant TV network. These latest demands by Mayweather appear to be the breaking point of negotiations for the potential mega fight. It can be interpreted as a subtle way of declining Pacquiao’s invitation to face him in the ring. He knows that Pacquiao cannot move and sign up with Mayweather’s Promotions because he has a live contract with Top Rank, Pacquiao’s current promoter. Mayweather has denied that he is scared or afraid of facing Pacquiao in the ring but his failure to commit himself to a showdown with the eight-division world champ is an indication that indeed he is afraid that he may not be able to keep his unbeaten career record if he accepts Pacquiao’s challenge.
Mayweather seems to have handpicked his past opponents to assure him of a win and keep his unbeaten career record. Pursuing a fight with Mayweather and even talking about him may be a waste of time for the Filipino star. Pacquiao should now focus on his upcoming fight against Chris Algieri and if he is successful in defending his WBO welterweight title, he should start shortlisting his next possible challengers and forget about a fight with Mayweather at this time.
