MANNY SHINES TO SPARK FLOYD TALK
Pacquiao win puts Mayweather rematch on cards
THE Pacman is back, with vengeance on his mind. Whether Floyd Mayweather will grant Manny Pacquiao another grudge match is a question wafting on the desert breeze through Las Vegas.
Mayweather materialised at ringside to watch a Pacquiao fight for the first time in their fistic lives.
The Pacman punched Mr Money’s dance card with every thudding blow he landed on Jessie Vargas in the course of winning his 11th world title of a phenomenal career.
Will Mayweather accept this invitation to take to the floor from the ring’s first and only eight-division champion?
Well, he looked acutely focused as he strolled into the Thomas and Mack Center just off the fabled Strip a few minutes before Pacquiao made his re-emergence from a retirement not much longer than a holiday.
Can Mayweather be tempted into a similar comeback? Much may depend on how he viewed Pacquiao’s exploits on Saturday night.
There was no knockout, even though Pacquiao went after his first stoppage for seven years as keenly as a tipsy punter chasing a painted lady around Sin City.
That could give Mayweather justification in his own mind for shrugging his shoulders and going back to spending money like water. Or he could go along with the general consensus that Pacquiao proved he can combine successfully his arduous day job as a senator in the Philippines with the gruelling regime of an elite prizefighter. Then concur that he did so with a vintage Pacman performance which would validate a reprise of the richest fight of all time. It may be that Mayweather will want Pacquiao to produce another commanding performance, next spring, to generate higher interest come next September.
Even a 50 per cent drop in revenue from their 2015 bout would still leave Mayweather and Pacquiao banking $110m and $80m respectively. Not too shabby, even for Mr Money.
Pacquiao has made good on his first part of the deal by beating up a man much bigger than himself.
Vargas looked more than the official four inches taller, and it was his size that enabled him to survive 12 rounds.
Vargas described this losing defence of his WBO world welterweight crown as ‘a game of speed chess’.
If so then it was with the emphasis on Pacquiao’s phenomenal speed, which remains un-slowed even though he is approaching 38. Vargas was given one standing eight count after being dropped.
Had referee Kenny Bayless not ruled as slips two other genuine knock-downs — to the boos of the crowd — along with two more marginal calls Pacquiao might well have ended it inside the distance.
Those spine-rattling left hooks and the bewildering combinations served notice that Pacquiao is still one of the greatest fighters on earth.
The same may well be true of Mayweather but to prove it he has to lace up the dancing shoes again.
As the Pacman has just reminded him, it takes two to tango.