Floyd Mayweather: ‘I don’t mind being a rich coward’

MANILA, Philippines – Days after calling out Manny Pacquiao for a fight on May 2, Floyd Mayweather returned to the offensive, going on the record about what he feels is holding back the long-delayed fight.

In the exclusive interview with FightHype, Mayweather (47-0; 26 knockouts) talked about the condition of random blood and urine testing, Pacquiao’s relationship with promoter Bob Arum, and the claims of some that Mayweather is a “coward” for not fighting Pacman.

“I laugh about it. I really laugh about it because I say, you know, I don’t mind being a rich coward,” the 5-division champion Mayweather said.

“I’m able to put my kids in the best schools. I was able to retire my mother. I’m able to put my dad in a comfortable position. Even with social media and everything, we don’t like Floyd, we hate Floyd, but we follow Floyd to comment on Floyd.”

The issue of random blood and urine testing that had been a sticking point in early negotiations seems to have been settled as Pacquiao had submitted to pre-fight performance enhancing drug testing leading up to his one-sided win over Chris Algieri in Macau in November. 

The eight-division boxing champion from General Santos City, Philippines submitted to random testing through the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA), which has turned in dirty tests from world champions Anthony Peterson and Andre Berto. 

On Arum

Mayweather claims that Arum, who promoted Mayweather from his pro debut in 1996 and led him to several championships before splitting a decade ago, is one of the remaining hurdles towards making the fight.

“People say Bob Arum is in the way, that’s the difference between me and Pacquiao: I’m in control,” an assured Mayweather said. His company, Mayweather Promotions, was recently granted a license in Nevada this past July. 

Not long after Pacquiao’s victory over Algieri, Arum once again said during an interview that a fight between Manny and Floyd has yet to take place because the latter is afraid.

“To get Mayweather in the ring with Pacquiao is a monumental task. Not because of splits, not because of money, because Manny stands the best chance of anybody that Floyd has faced to beat him,” Arum told World Boxing news. 

Mayweather, however, disagrees. 

“When I say I’m ready to go, I’m ready to go. Pacquiao fights when Bob Arum tells him he has to fight. I fight when I want to fight. I move when I want to move. That’s the great thing about being your own boss. And being in control of your own career. That’s the great thing about my career,” Mayweather said. 

(RELATED: Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather and making history)

As he’s done in the past, Mayweather took another shot at Pacquiao’s troubles financially, particularly with the IRS, and also took another opportunity to criticize the Filipino boxer for his pay-per-view numbers.

“All I gotta say, his back is against the ropes now. We all know he has financial problems, he has problems with those three capital letters which is the IRS and it’s crazy. It’s really, really crazy that people have been misled,” says Mayweather, whose own issues with the Internal Revenue Service led to him returning to the ring from retirement in 2009.

“Look at his pay-per-view numbers, and look at my pay-per-view numbers. You know I showed a couple checks to social media. Those were just a couple checks. I think it was 77 million. I got people that used to work in Pacquiao camp [like former strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza] that now work in my camp.” 

(RELATED: Mayweather jabs at Pacquiao’s tax woes, calls him ‘a desperate dog’)

Mayweather’s most recent pay-per-view, a rematch with Argentinian Marcos Maidana, drew a reported 925,000 buys, while Pacquiao-Algeri – which took place in Macau without the standard American promotional benefits – reportedly sold around 300,000.

Cinco de Mayweather 

During his interview with Showtime boxing’s Steve Farhood last week, Mayweather called out Pacquiao and Arum and put the blame on them for the fight not taking place yet.

“I know that [Pacquiao] is not on my level. The fans would love to see the fight, and of course I wanna go out with a bang… Manny Pacquiao, Bob Arum, you guys have been ducking us for years,” Mayweather said.

When asked about the statements he made to Showtime, Floyd said he felt it was the proper time and place to call out his rival, and once again insisted that he wants the matchup to finally happen, even if it’s been five years since negotiations between both sides were first established.

“I think just timing. The right time, the right place. And I think this fight should happen. I think the time is right and the time is now. For years and years, the public has been lied to. The public has been misled by the other side, which is the ‘B side’ because Mayweather Promotions is the ‘A side.’”

During the interview with Showtime, Mayweather also suggested the idea of May 2 as a potential fight day, three days before the celebration of the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo.

This was received negatively, since a potential fight between RING magazine middleweight champion Miguel Cotto and popular Mexican champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez could also take place on that same date on HBO.

“Canelo is a hell of a fighter. But even though he wants to face Cotto on May 2nd, I beat both, but Canelo is a hell of a boxer. Cotto is a hell of a boxer. They’re both excellent boxers. Both are good punchers, they both are strong guys. But they said that’s a Mexican holiday but the last time I checked, Cotto is Puerto Rican. And I put it like this, since they feel like May 2nd is a Mexican holiday, I say you know what, ‘I respect you guys. Fight in Mexico.'”

Arum has mentioned in prior interviews that there’s a possibility a fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather could take place in United Arab Emirates where the pot could go higher thanks to an investment group interested in promoting the fight.

With regards to which TV network would get rights to air the duel, there have been discussions of a split between the Mayweather-affiliated Showtime and Pacquiao-affiliated HBO, similar to the manner they used to televise Mike Tyson (Showtime) and Lennox Lewis (HBO) in 2002.

– Rappler.com with reports from Jane Bracher, Ryan Songalia