Pacquiao: I’m ready for Mayweather bout

10 years ago | Posted in: Sports | 573 Views

LAS VEGAS—Manny Pacquiao is back to sow fear in the ring—and one of his chief targets is Floyd Mayweather, the undefeated American.

“My line is open 24 hours, seven days a week,” the Filipino world welterweight champion said after demolishing the previously unbeaten Timothy Bradley. “All they (Mayweather camp) need to do is call.”

Pacquiao is expected to return to Manila on Friday. He will leave for General Santos City the next day to be with his wife Jinkee, the Sarangani vice governor, who is expected to give birth  anytime this month.

Mayweather, 37, continues to shun calls for a showdown with Pacquiao.

The American will put his perfect 45-0 record on the line against Argentina’s Marcos Maidana on May 3 in a welterweight world title clash.

In beating Bradley and recapturing the World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight crown, Pacquiao proved he still has a lot of gas left in his tank and that he should be good for two more years of fighting at the elite level.

Meaning at least three more fights.

“This [win] means that I still got what it takes,” Pacquiao told Filipino sportswriters on Sunday as the customized bus bearing his image headed for Los Angeles. “I feel as if I am starting all over again.”

Pacquiao’s energy and precision in his fight with Bradley backed the 35-year-old’s claim that his boxing journey is far from over—making talk of a mouth-watering Pacquiao-Mayweather match inevitable.

“If he wants to fight, the fight will be on,” Pacquiao said, although history has shown it’s not that easy.

In late 2009 and early 2010, Pacquiao and Mayweather were considered the world’s top pound-for-pound fighters and record profits were expected from a showdown.

But a disagreement over prefight blood testing scuttled talks already complicated by the need to satisfy rival pay-per-view outlets HBO and Showtime.

Other negotiations broke down over the division of the purse, and the intervening years have brought a further chill to relations between Bob Arum’s Top Rank Promotions and Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions… see more

source: inquirer

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