Manny Pacquaio’s bout with Floyd Mayweather in May broke a lot of records in boxing, but many viewed the fight as boring. That may have more to do with people not understanding Mayweather’s style more than anything, but it certainly wasn’t your average Pacquiao fight. In an interview with Japanese media while attending the World Basketball Conference, Pacquiao said that his injured shoulder has healed and that he wants a rematch with Floyd in 2016.
When asked about his shoulder, he showed the media he could move it just fine:
“(Rotating his shoulder) I can lift my shoulder like this. No problem any longer.”
When asked about the “Fight of the Century”, he repeated what he has said before – that Mayweather ran, and he won the fight:
“He was running away all the time. I was making the fight by stalking him and believe that I deserved a victory.”
Then he said he wanted the rematch:
“I’d like to concentrate my efforts on working as a politician this year, and want to fight Mayweather in a rematch. I’ll be ready for that mentally and physically next year. I’ll show a better performance against him than in the first encounter.”
Finally, he was complimentary towards Andre Berto, Mayweather’s next opponent in September:
“It will be a good fight as Andre Berto is fast and strong.”
Is there a market for a rematch? Probably, though it likely wouldn’t do nearly as well as the first fight. Mayweather has stated his intention to retire after his September fight with Berto (that’s when his Showtime contract runs out), but his nickname is Money after all – if there’s a second bout on the table, he’d probably take it.
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