By Sean Crose
There has been talk since Amir Khan’s brilliant victory over Devon Alexander last weekend that the speedy Englishman might give pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather a real run should the two end up meeting in the ring.
ESNEWS, however, has presented a video of Mayweather making it clear that Khan is most definitely NOT on his agenda.
“My focus is Manny Pacquiao,” Mayweather claimed. “Let’s make it happen.”
And Khan?
“His name holds no weight,” Mayweather said. Khan might have begged to differ, but Mayweather was loud and clear in his message.
“No one knows who Amir Khan is,” he reiterated.
“About Manny Pacquiao,” an unseen journalist asked on the video, “now you are close?”
“I’m really not sure,” Mayweather responded, adding “Bob Arum (and) Manny Pacquiao have been fooling the public for years.”
This, of course, was more or less a retread of what Floyd had said live on Showtime during the network’s boxing broadcast last Friday night.
“Basically the first time we didn’t fight because of random blood and urine testing,” Mayweather continued. “Second time we didn’t fight because he didn’t want to take the forty million.”
Again, Mayweather had stated as much last weekend. Yet the man then made it clear he’s been up to date on the latest news in the fight world.
“Now, I don’t know,” he added, “Bob Arum is trying to throw another excuse out there, talking about they don’t want to fight May 2nd. Why not? Let’s make the fight happen.”
Pacquiao himself at least seems to be sharing Mayweather’s sentiment. In fact, PacMan sent out a tweet to Mayweather’s Twitter address on Tuesday, egging his adversary on.
“Don’t be a boxing humbug,” the tweet read. “Let’s give the fans the fight they want. They have waited long enough.”
Indeed, some notable people are coming across as being exasperated with the whole thing at this point. ESPN’s Dan Rafael went on a Twitter tangent, basically accusing Mayweather or not being willing to meet Manny in the ring.
Other people, however, are looking at the proverbial glass as being half full. “Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather keep trading punches over social media,” USA Today’s Nick Schwartz wrote, “and both sides seem to want to make a fight happen this May.”
Here’s hoping Nick is right.
The issue of a May 2nd fight date, however, may prove to be quite troublesome. Mexican icon Canelo Alvarez really wants to fight on that calendar day. What’s more, Arum, whose Pacquiao’s promoter, is opening backing Canelo’s play.
Should a May 2nd Canelo Alvarez fight occur, it will most likely be with middleweight champ Miguel Cotto. While there’s little doubt a Canelo-Cotto fight would be enormous, it’s highly unlikely the bout would be anywhere near the size of a Mayweather-Pacquiao throwdown.
Still, Canelo-Cotto negotiations at least appear to be closer to wrapping up than Mayweather-Pacquiao negotiations do. Heck, does anyone even know if serious sit downs for a Floyd-Manny matchup are even happening at the moment?
Mayweather, however, has made it clear he thinks a pick between Canelo-Cotto and Mayweather-Pacquiao is a no brainer.
“I’m fighting May 2nd,” Tha Boxing Voice quotes Mayweather as saying. “Canelo is a great champion and a star but there is no fight out there that can compete with Mayweather-Pacquiao on May 2nd.”
There’s no doubt the man is right. In fact, there may even be some truth to the claims that a Floyd-Manny matchup would be the biggest bout in history. Still, it remains maddeningly uncertain whether or not the fight will actually happen.
As always, time will tell the tale. Here’s hoping this seemingly endless saga will finally arrive at a happy ending for the fans.
