Mayweather vs Pacquiao could be set for May 2015
Floyd Mayweather (46-0, 26 KOs) could finally meet Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) in a mega-fight in May 2015.
Mayweather faces Marcos Maidana on September 13, in a rematch following a close points win over the Argentine in an entertaining bout in May.
"September 13, back to business, Marcos Maidana v Floyd Mayweather part two," Mayweather said. "Then I'm fighting in May and I'll have a big surprise for you," added the unbeaten American.
Many fans are tired of even thinking about the idea of Mayweather vs Pacquiao - however, a source close to Mayweather's father said the pound for pound number one is willing to face the Filipino southpaw for the substantial money their fight will generate.
Even though Mayweather is still boxing's richest star attraction, the pay per view buyrates for two of his last three fights - bouts against Robert Guerrero and Maidana - have been disappointing. Whilst Pacquiao's pay per view numbers in his last two outings against Brandon Rios and Timothy Bradley have also fallen short. Where else can these two aging superstars find the sort of money this fight brings?
Since 2009, there have been a number of reasons why the pair have never faced each other - issues of drug testing, the purse split and Mayweather's refusal to do business with the Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, whom Pacquiao recently extended a deal with that runs through the end of 2016. Add the fact that Pacquiao's fights are shown on HBO in America, while Mayweather is contracted to rival Showtime, means a fight between the two seems even more unlikely. But Arum claims the fight could still happen.
"We want to fight him and we’re willing to discuss it at any point," he said.
"There are two ways to go here. One is to do a Mayweather fight with both HBO and Showtime involved, as they did with Lewis-Tyson, as I understand Mayweather is under contract to Showtime through 2015. The companies could come together and put on the show.
"Or, the other alternative is, if Floyd wanted to fight Manny in 2016, he could return to HBO and we could do it there."
Pacquiao defends his WBO welterweight title against Chris Algieri on November 22.