Floyd Mayweather Jr. has now done what he seemed to be avoiding for many years, which is calling out Manny Pacquiao for a pound-for-pound slugfest.
With his decision to finally take on the Pac-Man in a surefire megabuck fight, speculations are flying that Money May is pressured to fight an elite opponent because of the threat of another Cinco de Mayo special between Miguel Cotto and Saul Canelo Alvarez.
In an interview on Showtime, Mayweather made a straightforward statement that he wants to fight Pacquiao as he even set a date for their Cinco de Mayo showdown on May 2.
Mayweather stressed that he never had an intention to fight a an opponent below his level like Pacquiao, but the Grand Rapids native said he will do it for the sake of millions of boxing fans craving to see them duke it out inside the ring.
"Absolutely, I would love to fight Manny Pacquiao. We've trying to make the fight happen for years. We had problems with random blood and urine testing and all I wanted was to be on an even playing field.
"Pacquiao is in a very tight situation... he's lost to Marquez, lost to Bradley... his pay-per-view numbers are extremely low and now he's desperate. I've wanted that fight a long time ago and I'm just waiting on them."
"We are ready. Let's make it happen. May 2. Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao. Let's do it," Mayweather told Showtime Boxing.
Mayweather insisted he's not the one preventing the fight from happening all this time. In fact, he even offered Pacquiao's camp $40 million fight purse before the Filipino absorbed two consecutive setbacks at the hands of Timothy Bradley via split decision and Juan Manuel Marquez via sixth round knockout loss.
With Top-Rank and Golden Boy Promotions reportedly close to setting a stage for the fight between Cotto and Alvarez on May 2, Mayweather was left with no choice but to fight Pacquiao to make his Cinco de Mayo tradition profitable.
Although no papers have been signed yet, Mayweather's recent comments would suggest that negotiations are expected to commence in the coming weeks in hope of finalizing the contract for a fight that is reportedly worth as much as $700M.
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