Manny Pacquiao can have the belt, says Floyd Mayweather
After the World Boxing Council named Manny Pacquiao as the mandatory challenger to Floyd Mayweather’s welterweight title, the mega-fight that the boxing world has hoped for seemed closer than ever.
Mayweather has held the green 147-belt for a long time some people thought it might be important enough to the American fighter to sway him for a showdown with Pacquiao.
Mayweather killed this idea in an interview with Fight Hype. “Everybody's talking about the title he’s (Pacquiao's) the mandatory. He can have the belt! A belt don't make me. A belt doesn’t define Floyd Mayweather,” said the fighter.
The undefeated fighter then questioned the selection of Pacquiao by the WBC.
“Here’s the Manny Pacquiao story. Manny Pacquiao was at welterweight. He lost to Timothy Bradley, no matter how you cut it, how you slice it, he lost to Timothy Bradley. He got knocked out by Marquez. He came back and went the distance with a lightweight,” said Mayweather. “And now all of a sudden, he’s the mandatory for my title.”
“I’ve been champion since 1998 to right now. I’m not 1 and 2 in my last three fights. I’m 48 and 0. But like I said before, put him in front of me, I’ll beat him.”
He went on to state the reasons why he thinks Pacquiao doesn’t deserve a shot at him. Mayweather said that Pacquiao’s pay-per-view numbers have dipped while he has broken his own sales record. He added that his gate receipts against Saul Alvarez were also the richest in boxing history.
“It's not just Floyd Mayweather's bigger than a title. Floyd Mayweather at the level now, he can come out with his own world championship belt,” he said.
“In the future, I think my face is going to be in the belt on one side. At one particular time you had Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali. I don’t know where my face will be placed there on the belt but I think in the future my face will be on the WBC belt or the WBA or the IBF.”
Mayweather currently holds all the aces if ever the two sides will open negotiations for a fight. Aside from Pacquiao’s sliding pay-per-view numbers and his recent twin losses, Mayweather understands that Pacquiao needs a fight against him to take care of his tax woes with the IRS.
On the other hand, the American fighter can dictate his purse against any fighter he chooses to battle.
