Floyd Mayweather calls Manny Pacquiao a ‘desperate dog’
Floyd Mayweather Jr. has dismissed Manny Pacquiao's recent victory over Brandon Rios as a win over “a blown-up lightweight” and referenced the eight-division titlewinner's tax issues as “68 million problems” that “he wants me to solve,” during a recent Q&A interview on FightHype.com.
Mayweather (45-0, 26 knockouts) characterized Pacquiao's quest to fight him as being asked to “throw an old, desperate dog a bone” and also re-iterated his assertion that he “will never do business” with Pacquiao's promoter, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, meaning that a megabout between the two would have to wait until 2015, when Arum's contract runs out, according to Pacquiao.
“So this guy's got all these problems and he wants Floyd Mayweather to solve them for him, huh?” said Mayweather, having dismissed rumors of a September date with Pacquiao as “a lie.”
“He's got 68 million problems and he wants me to solve them. First he didn't need me; now he needs me. He's willing to do anything now after his career done took a major setback.”
Pacquiao, who turned 35 in December, is coming off November’s unanimous decision over Rios, a former lightweight titleholder who made his welterweight debut.
In victory, Pacquiao rebounded from a split-decision loss to Tim Bradley that dethroned him as WBO welterweight titleholder in June of 2012, and a sixth-round stoppage loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in December of that year.
For now, Pacquiao’s advisor, Michael Koncz, and Arum are considering who will be his next opponent on April 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, having met recently regarding a rematch with Bradley or a bout with Pacquiao’s former sparring partner, Ruslan Provodnikov.
“First he wanted 50/50; now he's like, ‘Floyd, give me anything. Throw an old, desperate dog a bone.’ This man got 68 million problems. Now he wants Floyd Mayweather to solve his problems when he was just saying he's on the same level as me.”
In his last fight in September, Mayweather, who turns 37 in February, dethroned Canelo Alvarez by majority decision for the RING and WBC 154-pound championships. Mayweather-Alvarez, promoted by Golden Boy, grossed a record $150 million.
Mayweather already was the WBA's reigning 154-pound titleholder, having earned that belt by unanimous decision over Miguel Cotto in May of 2012.
In May of this year, Mayweather unanimously decisioned Robert Guerrero in defense of the WBC 147-pound title he had earned by dethroning Victor Ortiz via fourth-round stoppage in September of 2011, cementing his status as RING welterweight champion as well.
Mayweather also referenced an offer he made to Pacquiao during a telephone conversation in January of 2012.
“He basically told me, ‘f___ you! I don't need you. I don't need your $40 million. I'm getting the same type of money you getting. So if you getting the same type of money I'm getting, you don't need me,” said Mayweather of Pacquaio, whose win over Rios sold only 475,000 units on pay per view — far less than the 1.15 million buys generated by his loss to Marquez.
“If you doing the same type of pay-per-view numbers I'm doing, you don't need me. I want to see the pay-per-view numbers. As a matter of fact, ever since he's been fighting on pay-per-view, I want to see his residual checks; the money that comes in on the back end, I want to see those checks. I don't know what their relationship is, but I'm not doing business with Rob Arum.”
Meanwhile, Mayweather has a planned return for May, with former two-belt 140-pound titleholder Amir Khan claiming to have signed his part of an agreement to challenge for Mayweather's RING and WBC welterweight titles on that date.
There had been wide speculation that final details are close to being completed for Mayweather to face Khan at either The MGM Grand in Las Vegas or else at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
However, Mayweather dismissed New York as a fight site.
“The MGM Grand (in Las Vegas) is the Mecca of boxing. No disrespect to New York City or Madison Square Garden, because it's always been one of my dreams to fight in New York City at Madison Square Garden, but when you fight at the MGM Grand, that's the Mecca of boxing. You get to come out to Las Vegas and you get to go see the shows on The Strip, you get to shop late, you get to go to strip clubs,” said Mayweather.
“We got a very, very diverse variety of night clubs. You get to party; you get to do a little bit of everything when you come out to Las Vegas. I'm not going nowhere and fighting where everything closes at 2:00 a.m. When you come to Las Vegas for a Mayweather fight, it’s an event. You just don't know who you're going to meet at a Mayweather fight. And believe me, it's nothing but a building full of A, B, and C-listers, and all I'm doing every fight is constantly breaking my own records.”
Mayweather has also mentioned Marcos Maidana as being “in the lottery jackpot box” along with Khan to be his next opponent. Last month, Maidana scored two knockdowns during a unanimous decision that dethroned Adrien “The Problem” Broner as WBA welterweight beltholder.
“If the Amir Khan fight presents itself, then you know what? It presents itself. Once again, Amir Khan has a good following, so if it makes business sense, then it makes money..,” said Mayweather.
“The Maidana fight; that fight makes sense. A lot of people believe in Maidana because of the Adrien Broner fight. They think since Adrien Broner has a style similar to mine… they think Maidana can crack the MayVinci Code.”
An online report by Forbes’ Magazine estimates that Mayweather’s exclusive multi-fight venture with Showtime and its parent company, CBS Corporation, could be worth a guaranteed $250,000 million to Mayweather, who made his first-ever appearance on Showtime Pay Per View when he beat Guerrero.
“Whoever I'm fighting coming up in May, I'm a pay myself whatever I want to pay myself,” said Mayweather, who has twice earned a record guaranteed purse of $32 million. “You best believe it will never be under $32 million. My guarantee will never be under $32 million; never. You gotta realize I go to other countries just to shake hands for a six-figure check.”