Be your own man, Floyd dares Pacquiao

While Manny Pacquiao was expressing his thanks and mentioning many names immediately after his latest win, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. was apparently waiting for his own name to be mentioned by the pound-for-pound king.

He was not expecting a thank you, but what he wanted to hear was a challenge, for Pacquiao to call out his name and dare him to a fight.

“Tell Manny Pacquiao to be his own man and stop letting everyone, including his loudmouth trainer, talk for him. I am my own boss, speak for myself and tell it like it is. If Manny Pacquiao wants to fight me, all he has to do is step up to the plate and say it himself,” Mayweather told Fightnews.

A Pacquiao-Mayweather is looming as one of the biggest non-heavyweight fights in modern day boxing history. It’s so big that Station Casinos in Las Vegas are already taking bets on who will win.

ESPN reported that Pacquiao opened as an 8-5 favorite but a few $20,000 bets gave Mayweather a little push and made it 7-5 as of Tuesday, still Pacquiao’s way.

“Their whole promotion was just a Mayweather sweepstakes. They know it and anyone could figure that out. Why? Because my name kept coming up and I didn’t even say anything,” Mayweather said.

“Even when he was interviewed on ESPN by Brian Kenny, he was asked about fighting me and what did he say? Not ‘yes I want to fight Mayweather or bring it on.’ But no! He said ‘hum, ahh, well talk to my promoter.’”

After an 18-month hiatus, Mayweather returned to the ring last September and decisioned former Pacquiao foe and world lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez in their 12-round fight in Las Vegas where Mayweather failed to make the catch weight of 144lbs and fought as a full 147-lb welterweight.

“I have yet to hear him actually say, ‘yes I want to fight Mayweather.’ We are the fighters and if one fighter is talking about fighting another fighter, then they should just come out and say it. Manny Pacquiao doesn’t say anything directly about fighting me because he might just know it’s not a fight he can win,” said Mayweather.

Asked to comment about Mayweather’s rants Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz said the flashy American just wants to sound like he is still the king of the sport.

“Manny doesn’t need to call him out. Manny’s on top right now. Mayweather knows what number to call if he really wants to make the fight,” Koncz told The Bulletin last Tuesday.

Koncz said Pacquiao is taking his well-deserved break while they are also waiting for the Pay-Per-View (PPV) numbers regarding the Filipino’s victory over Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto last weekend in Las Vegas.

“We need to see what the Pay-Per-View numbers are for us. If we come in at 750 (thousand) which I doubt, we won’t have much leverage. But if we come in at 1.5 (million) we’ll have a lot of leverage. We have to wait. I think it’s premature and foolish to start talking about any fight until we get the numbers,” added Koncz.

PPV king HBO has set a March 2009 return for Pacquiao, something which the Filipino’s trainer, Freddie Roach, said will be too close.

“May or June, in that ballpark. March may be too close to get a big fight like that going. I’d like to see Manny take a rest and then get into it,” Roach told ESPN. Pacquiao is set to arrive on Friday in an expected frenzied Philippine welcome. -source

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This is a classic boxer attitude, bashing and calling out the other fighter as a coward. I think the one who has a loud mouth is the coward. Let's see that Pacquiao vs Mayweather fight set already!