Mayweather calls Pacquiao a pawn, Pacman says he can easily beat Floyd

After Manny Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 knockouts) set an ultimatum by the end of January for the mega-fight against Floyd Mayweather (47-0, 26 KOs), the eight-division world champion tried to prod the undefeated American to make his decision faster with another attack on social media.

Pacquiao, who was reported to be a 3-1 underdog in some betting lines, disregarded the odds by saying he was also a big underdog in his first welterweight bout against Oscar de la Hoya back in 2008.

Against de la Hoya, Pacquiao was a plus 165 which means a $100 bet would win $165. The favored Olympian was a minus 185, which means a $185 bet will only win $100.

Even against these odds, Pacquiao thoroughly dominated de la Hoya en route to an eighth round stoppage.
Mayweather also made his first comments about the fight negotiations during an interview with Shade 45 Radio.

“Hopefully, it’s Mayweather-Pacquiao. Of course we are trying to make the fight happen between me and Pacquiao. Are we negotiating? Absolutely we are negotiating. But Pacquiao said that he agreed to everything. What did you agree to? You have no say,” said Mayweather.

“We’re trying but it’s extremely difficult dealing with Top Rank. And I don’t want to sit here and point the finger at Pacquiao and say ‘It’s him.’ It’s not Pacquiao, it’s his promoter. A lot of times when Pacquiao says ‘I agreed,’ you don’t have anything to do with this. You’re not the boss. On the chessboard, you’re a pawn.”

Juan Manuel Marquez, one of the common opponents of Pacquiao and Mayweather, also chimed in the conversation by saying the Filipino will find it hard to beat the American in Las Vegas.

“It’s difficult to penetrate the guard of Mayweather, but with the speed that Pacquiao has, he can do it,” Marquez told Rene Umanzor of BoxingScene.com. “The coin is in the air, but I know both of those fighters and is difficult to be able to beat Floyd Mayweather, and even more so because he is a protected fighter in Las Vegas.”