THUMBS-UP FOR REMATCH?
Pacquiao, Mayweather hint at it
LOS ANGELES – Gone were the hostilities, the ill- feelings, the standoff in talks, the drug issues that nearly scuttled the staging of boxing history’s richest fight in May 2015.
Saturday in Las Vegas, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao were like old buddies with eye contacts, body language, raised hands and eventually the American’s thumbs-up at the close of the Filipino champ’s bout with Jessie Vargas that augured well for the holding of Superfight II.
But it’s only Mayweather who holds the key to a rematch.
The flamboyant American was at ringside last Saturday when Pacquiao, coming off his own retirement, scored a convincing victory over Vargas at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The presence of the 39-year-old Mayweather, who was 49- 0 when he retired for the second time in September last year, during the fight stirred talks of a rematch.
People will keep talking about the rematch until it happens.
And it’s only Mayweather, and no one else, who will decide if he wants to come out of retirement again and face the resurgent Filipino champion in a rematch of their lucrative fight last year.
Before, during and after the Vargas fight, it seemed that Pacquiao and Mayweather were communicating with each other through eye contact and hand signals.
Twice, Pacquiao raised his hand toward Mayweather’s direction.
“They were having eye contact. Yeah, because even after the fight, when Manny stood in that corner and put his hands up for his fans, he looked at Floyd and Floyd gave him the thumbsup. I saw it,” said Pacquiao’s ring adviser, Michael Koncz.
After the fourth round, a reporter who sat just a few feet away from Mayweather asked the latter how he was seeing the fight, and the American responded.
Mayweather clipped his shoulders, smiled and said, “I’m not a judge.”
Then immediately after the fight, as Pacquiao celebrated on top of the ring and Mayweather prepared to leave, he was again asked what he felt about the fight.
“Not bad,” Mayweather said.
LOS ANGELES – Manny Pacquiao said he did not expect his WBO welterweight title conquest to attract a huge crowd at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Speaking to reporters in his suite at Wynn Hotel the day after his victory, Pacquiao expressed satisfaction with the live gate attendance.
“I’m so happy because a lot of people showed up in the fight,” said Pacquiao.
Saturday’s fight ( Sunday in Manila) marked Pacquiao’s return at the Thomas & Mack in 10 years. The last time he saw action at the venue was in 2006 when he knocked out Erik Morales in their rematch.
He was successful in his return, dominating Vargas to capture his third welterweight championship, in front of a sellout crowd.
“When I looked around there was lot of people. I did not expect that kind of crowd,” Pacquiao added.
When told that the official live attendance was at 16,132, Pacquiao’s eyes lit up. “That’s a lot,” he said. Indeed, those are solid numbers considering that the capacity of Thomas & Mack, which is located within the UNLV campus, is around 19,000.
In the lead- up to the promotion, observers expect the Pacquiao-Vargas fight to be met with lukewarm reception, largely due to the Filipino icon’s perceived dwindling popularity and Vargas’ relative anonymity.
To help drive interest, tickets for the fight were sold at lower prices compared to Pacquiao’s previous bouts in Las Vegas, with the cheapest seats going for $50.
It also helped that Nonito Donaire Jr. fought in the undercard, attracting the Filipino community in Las Vegas. The FilAm, however, failed to defend his WBO super bantamweight title and lost to a younger Jessie Magdaleno.
Pacquiao previously said he bought $1 million worth of tickets – translating to about 2,000 pieces – for his relatives and friends.