Manny Pacquiao fired back at Floyd Mayweather Jr. after the reigning pound-for-pound king challenged him to a showdown on Cinco de Mayo weekend on May 2 next year.
Pacquiao, who holds a 57-5 record with 38 knockouts, told BoxingScene that he has been always ready to face Mayweather. If the super fight happens next year, Pacquiao vowed to do his best to entertain the fans, but he expressed doubt about Mayweather's willingness to engage in a slugfest with him.
"I will try my best to make this a thrilling and entertaining fight," Pacquiao told BoxingScene. "But I doubt if he's gonna engage me in a slugfest."
"You all know his fighting style. Most of his previous fights, if not all, induced us to sleep," added Pacquiao, who is coming off a sensational unanimous decision win against Chris Algieri last month.
Like in the Algieri fight, Pacquiao vowed that he will continuously chase Mayweather if the unbeaten world welterweight and junior middleweight champion decides to run a lot in their possible showdown.
Mayweather and Pacquiao are considered as the two best pound-for-pound boxers of their generation. Fight fans have been calling for a super fight between them over the past five years, but numerous negotiations for the possible record-breaking fight went down.
On Friday, Mayweather said in an interview with Showtime that Pacquiao's camp should be blamed for the unsuccessful negotiations for the fight.
Mayweather pointed out that the fight could have happened five years ago had Pacquiao agreed to undergo random blood and urine testing. He also added that he offered Pacquiao's camp $40 million before to make the fight happen, but the Filipino boxing icon's camp allegedly turned it down.
The 37-year-old Michigan native, who holds a perfect 47-0 record with 26 knockouts, said that he will not offer the same amount to Pacquiao this time after the eight-division champion lost to Juan Manuel Marquez and Timothy Bradley in 2012.
But for Pacquiao, he is not thinking about the money that he will get for facing Mayweather, saying that his main goal is to give boxing fans the fight that they have been clamoring for.
"Mayweather can get the amount he wants," Pacquiao said. "As early as January this year, I challenged him to a charity fight. Until now, he has not agreed to it. So, money is not the issue in our fight."
