Boxing legend Evander Holyfield believes that the super fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will eventually happen, but only if the unbeaten champion becomes confident about his chances against the Filipino boxing icon.
Holyfield, who recently announced his retirement, said in a recent interview that Mayweather has what it takes to dominate Pacquiao, but the pound-for-pound king is not aware of it.
And until Mayweather realizes that he is way better than Pacquiao, the proposed super fight will not happen according to Holyfield.
"Everybody is saying, 'Why doesn't he fight Pacquiao? He'll kill Pacquiao.' He doesn't believe it himself. Until he believes it, the fight won't happen," Holyfield said via BoxingScene.
Holyfield spoke based on experience during his prime when he was continuously being linked to former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, but several reasons prevented the fight from happening.
The 51-year-old former heavyweight kingpin eventually got the fight and knocked Tyson out in the 11th round of their fight in November 1996.
The two heavyweight legends squared off in a rematch, but it ended prematurely after Mike Tyson bit Holyfield's ear, which led to Tyson's disqualification.
Mayweather is scheduled to return to the ring in September. Several names have been mentioned as possible opponents, but most analysts believe that the undefeated welterweight and light middleweight champion will face Marcos Maidana in a rematch.
Maidana pushed Mayweather to the limits during their welterweight title unification bout on May 3 in Las Vegas, before the Grand Rapids native escaped with a majority decision victory.
In a recent interview with BoxingScene, Maidana admitted that he is not expecting to get a rematch with Mayweather after the way he performed in their first fight.
"I don't think so, I don't think he will give me a rematch. I'm waiting, but inside I know that he's not going to give me a rematch," Maidana said.
Maidana pointed out that Mayweather might be scared to give him a second fight especially after giving the 37-year-old arguably the toughest fight of his illustrious career.
"I felt I had his respect, maybe he was then a little scared," Maidana said. "And then he began to run; went on his bike. Stood there, but he's a good fighter. He has a very good defense, and I could not catch up. He had said in previous conference that he was going to fight me. But when he stood still, he felt a punch and then he was gone."
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