'The Biggest Fight Ever' flew past, it raised controversy, eyebrows and suspicions but what was raised most was the general publics high hopes. They were dashed when Manny Pacquiao failed to make anything of the fight with the undefeated Floyd Mayweather and now we find ourselves almost being dragged into what seems like another episode of the 'Will they? Won't they?' show featuring none other than Mayweather and Pacquiao. Only this time, it's in regards to a rematch.
Post-fight, we were treated to some very arrogant, some may say borderline bizarre, remarks from Pacquiao claiming he thought he had won the fight. Hours after that claim, the stance was changed to Mayweather was just moving around too much and then came what some have dubbed a poor 'excuse' that he was training and fighting with a serious rotator-cuff injury to his right shoulder. To be fair to Pacquiao, any injury to a rotator-cuff is very serious but it begs the question, why not disclose this information properly if it was that serious an injury?
As you can expect, Mayweather forces that point of view home quite damningly, talking to Sports Illustrated he said; “Excuses, excuses, excuses...I’m not going to buy into the bull****… and I don’t want the public to buy into the bull****. He lost. He knows he lost. I lost a lot of respect for him after all of this.”
This is where the confusion creeps in. In the proceeding days after this revelation, there were talks growing of Pacquiao now facing lawsuits. Even after those reports of lawsuits against Pacquiao it was widely reported that Mayweather had text ESPN's Stephen A. Smith "I will fight him in a year after his surgery." Oh, how quickly things change. Now, it seems Mayweather has had a complete change of mind, which will apparently be shown on an 'Epilogue' show on Showtime after their repeat of the fight this coming Saturday.
It was always dubious that Mayweather would wait around for Pacquiao to regroup from his surgery to fight him in mid to late 2016. But even there Mayweather seems to have changed his mind, when asked about his last fight being in September, he was quick to state he is only "human" so will contradict himself at times. When he would have been one fight away from breaking a record, the majority of the boxing community deep down knew he'd stick around for 50-0 then call it quits.
Will we get a Mayweather Vs Pacquiao pt.II? With the amount of changes of mind and opinions, who knows? Both fighters have been known to 'do' rematches but this could be a step too far for both men, especially Mayweather. Thankfully we know this can't be dragged out for years on end as neither fighter has that sort of time left in the ring.