MACAU – Manny Pacquiao is all set to fight Chris Algieri and yet when he faced members of the press Tuesday he took more questions concerning Floyd Mayweather Jr.
The buzz in and around the boxing community is that serious efforts are being made to finally make the elusive Pacquiao-Mayweather fight happen next year.
At first, Pacquiao tried to dodge the issue.
“Let’s finish this fight first,” said Pacquiao as he sat in front of boxing writers, including those who just flew in from the United States.
But the questions kept coming.
“Would you rather be fighting Mayweather on Sunday?” was the first question thrown at Pacquiao by Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports.
“My job is to fight. Whoever wants to fight, let’s fight,” said Pacquiao.
Then boxing’s only eight-division champion was drawn into the topic. A couple of times he tilted his head up and rolled his eyes.
He was showing excitement over the prospects of a Mayweather fight.
“Cross (your) fingers that hopefully that fight will happen,” said Pacquiao before he climbed the ring for a two-hour workout at the Venetian Hotel’s training gym.
“As long as he’s in boxing and I’m in boxing there’s a chance it will happen,” he said.
“There’s a lot of talk about a Mayweather fight,” said Top Rank chief Bob Arum in a separate interview at the main press center of the Venetian Hotel.
“And I’m more enthused now about the possibility of the fight happening than three or four years ago. Because we’re talking to responsible people. People with the ability to make it happen,” he added.
If he could have his way, Arum said the fight should happen in the first six months of 2015.
On Sunday, Pacquiao will stake his WBO welterweight crown against Algieri, an undefeated boxer who’s in the biggest fight of his career.
Pacquiao has in front of him a younger and bigger boxer who will not stop trying.
“What’s in my mind is this fight. I don’t want to underestimate my opponent and take him lightly,” said the 35-year-old Pacquiao.
At his age, plus the fact that he lost two straight fights in 2012, Pacquiao is out to prove he still has the same power and speed that made him who he is now.
Pacquiao has rebounded from those back-to-back defeats with two victories in a row.
The first one came against Brandon Rios, also here in Macau around this same time last year, and another over Tim Bradley in Las Vegas last April.
Pacquiao was convincing in both wins but not convincing enough for all his fans longing to see a knockout win they haven’t seen from him since the Miguel Cotto fight in 2009.
“A knockout means a lot and if it comes it comes. It’s not only the Filipino people but the fans around the world (who are longing for a knockout),” he said.
“Including me,” Pacquiao added.
Notes: Chief promoter Bob Arum said Sunday’s fight, in numbers, will eclipse all the other fights he’s staged here in Macau. He said over 60 members of the media are coming in from mainland China to cover the fight. The American press are also here in full force. “This is so much bigger than last year (Brandon Rios fight). There are going to be four times more media from the United States than last time. Every New York paper, the LA Times, the Associated Press, Yahoo! and ESPN. Everybody’s here. Publicity has been tremendous,” said Arum, who also expects celebrities to come in from the US. “Sylvester Stallone will be here and so is the governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s going to be an action-packed fight according to Arum just because “Rocky, Rambo and the Terminator” will be at ringside.