Floyd Mayweather Jr. Blasts Manny Pacquiao ‘Piggybacking Off My Name’ — But Could Rematch Happen?

Floyd Mayweather Jr. finally responded to Manny Pacquiao on Sunday, after Pacquiao made repeated claims to be “negotiating” a rematch of their May 2 megafight, which though considered a disappointment by fans, shattered all revenue-generating records for a boxing event — and Mayweather’s response was not exactly encouraging to Pacquiao, or any boxing fans who want to see a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao rematch, if indeed such boxing fans exist.

A short behind-the-scenes documentary by Showtime Sports, including highlights from the May 2 Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao fight can be viewed in the video above, on this page.

On at least two occasions in October, Pacquiao announced that his representatives were in talks with the Mayweather camp about a rematch to be staged in the spring of 2016. Pacquiao, who will turn 37-years-old on December 17, has said that he wants to fight one final time before retiring to run for and, he hopes, serve in the Philippines Senate.

Mayweather, on the other hand, declared his retirement after his fight against Andre Berto on September 12, a fight he won easily to score his 49th victory of his 19-year, undefeated career. So far, Mayweather — who will be 39 in February — has shown no interest in coming out of his self-imposed “retirement,” but in light of the fact that he has “retired” three times already since 2006, most boxing experts are certain that Mayweather’s current “retirement” is in reality, nothing more than yet another glorified hiatus from the rigors of the sport.

As for Pacquiao, he had hinted that he would reveal his opponent for his final fight this week, and that foe was widely expected to be 28-year-old British welterweight Amir Khan who has been lobbying relentlessly for a fight against either Pacquiao or Mayweather for the past year at least.

In fact, last week, reports in the British media said that Khan had already signed a contract to fight Pacquiao on April 9 of 2016. But those reports were quickly rubbished by Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum.

If not Khan, the other two possible opponents on the short list for Manny Pacquiao are two Americans — 28-year-old junior welterweight champion Terence “Bud” Crawford of Omaha, Nebraska, who has won all 27 of fights in his seven-year boxing career; and 32-year-old World Boxing Organization welterweight belt-holder Timothy Bradley Jr. of Palm Springs, California.

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Bradley has fought Pacquiao twice already, winning a highly controversial upset decision in their first fight on June 9, 2012. But in the return bout two years later, it was Pacquiao who won a convincing unanimous decision.

On Saturday night, November 7, Bradley made his case for completing the trilogy with an impressive ninth-round knockout of veteran Brandon Rios, an opponent who lasted the distance against Pacquiao in November of 2013.

But now sources close to Pacquiao say that he will wait until next month to make his decision about who will occupy the opposite corner in his swan song fight next year. Reportedly, Pacquiao is still holding out hope that the opponent will be Mayweather himself.

In an interview published on Friday by the boxing news site Fight Hype, Mayweather appeared to trash Pacquiao’s hopes for a rematch.

“It’s all b******t. What they’re doing is this, once again, piggybacking off my name to sell pay-per-view numbers when he do go out there and fight again.”

Mayweather also defended himself against accusations that his fight against Pacquiao did not live up to the massive hype that preceded the May 2 bout.

“I dissected this fighter, the so-called ‘best fighter of our generation’. I dissected him,” Mayweather declared. “‘Mayweather is so boring, he’s this, he’s that!’ I’m boring enough to do the biggest and the best numbers in pay-per-view history.”

The subject may yet turn out to be moot anyway. A new report Monday in The Manila Times quoted the business manager of Manny Pacquiao, Eric Pineda, saying that Pacquiao would rather fight Terence Crawford anyway — leaving Floyd Mayweather Jr, to his alleged retirement.

[Featured Photo By John Locher/Associated Press]