Mayweather: Pacquiao has to avenge his losses to Marquez and Bradley before I’ll fight him

By ESB - 02/23/2013 - Comments

may3By Rob Smith: If Bob Arum of Top Rank and Manny Pacquiao want a huge money mega fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. to take place in 2014 then Pacquiao is going to have to avenge his defeats to Juan Manuel Marquez and Tim Bradley, Mayweather says. He says Pacquiao has unfinished business with those two fighters before he’ll even consider a bout against him.

Speaking with ESPN, Mayweather said “First Manny Pacquiao has to get past Marquez, a fighter I beat with ease. I mean, that was one of my easiest fights. Manny Pacquiao still has Tim Bradley problems, he still has Marquez problems. First Manny Pacquiao has to get those guys, then he can step inside the lion’s den with Floyd Mayweather.”

Mayweather has a good point. How can Mayweather face Pacquiao with him having lost his last two fights? That doesn’t make sense because a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight now won’t make nearly the numbers now that they would if Pacquiao would avenge his defeats to Marquez and Bradley first.

Pacquiao has a problem, though. Marquez isn’t interested in fighting him again, he says, and for that fight to take place Pacquiao will likely have to give Marquez a bigger cut of the revenue compared to their previous fights.

Marquez knows he’s in a good position to get a better deal due to his 6th round knockout win over Pacquiao from last December. Marquez seems like it doesn’t matter to him whether he faces Pacquiao again or not because he got the better of him the last time they fought.

Pacquiao will have to give Marquez a better purse split for the fight to happen. Whether Marquez holds out for a 50-50 deal is unclear, but you’d have to figure that would be a deal breaker because Arum can make big money for Pacquiao just fighting his pretty much anyone.