Floyd Mayweather Claims He Wants To Fight Manny Pacquiao On May 2nd

Floyd Mayweather has issued a challenge to long-time rival Manny Pacquaio, asking for a fight on May 2nd. Mayweather, speaking in an interview with Showtime, is seemingly responding to the calls Pacquiao made for a bout between the two before his Nov. 22 win over Chris Algieri.

Here's Mayweather in the interview, via Dan Rafael:

"I would love to fight Manny Pacquiao. We tried to make the fight happen years ago; we had problems with random blood and urine testing," Mayweather said. "I just want to be on an even playing field. Now he's in a very, very tight situation. He's lost to [Juan Manuel] Marquez [in 2012], he's lost to [Timothy] Bradley [by controversial decision in 2012 but avenged it in April]. Pay-per-view numbers are extremely low. He's desperate. I wanted that fight a long time ago. I'm just waiting on them."

Bob Arum, Pacquaio's promoter, is already making a stink about the May 2nd date, saying the Cinco de Mayo weekend should be reserved for a Mexican boxer. There will surely be many more rounds of dick-swinging and pissing before the sides can agree on a fight, one that we'll only believe once the two are standing in a ring and the bell is rung. (At this point, you should expect it to happen around the time Dr. Dre's new album comes out.)

Mayweather and Pacquiao, of course, have been going back and forth on a fight for years. In late 2009, when the drug testing issue came up, this would have actually been interesting. Since then, we've seen Pacquaio get dropped like a bag of rocks, and remembered why we want absolutely no part of watching Mayweather box.

[ ESPN]

Photo via AP