Did Manny Pacquiao award send Floyd Mayweather over the edge? -- Telegraph

By Gareth A Davies, Telegraph.co.uk

The Mayweather Files continue.Was it an off-the-cuff remark from Floyd Mayweather Jr that he is taking two years off, or was it simply a protest at Manny Pacquiao’s award of Fighter of the Decade from the Boxing Writers Association of America on Friday in New York?

Equally, it could be a ruse from Mayweather in the stakes for a negotiation ahead of the proposed showdown between Congressman Pacquiao and ‘Money’ Mayweather. Either way, Mayweather’s intriguing signals in his fight with Pacquiao continue to draw the headlines.

Mayweather has insisted he wants Pacquiao to take drug tests in the lead-up to their fight. The respective promoters are currently settling those terms.

I tend to agree with Bob Arum on this one. The promoter of Filipino boxing whirlwind Pacquiao does not believe the undefeated American is planning to go into retirement again.

I spoke to Arum last week, and he insisted that he was gagged on talking about the scene-shifting going on behind the scenes in the Pacquiao-Mayweather talks at present – as indeed Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy is – as they go ahead and try to nail down all aspects of the fight for November 13.

Arum said he is not taking the reports seriously since most people believe Mayweather “was just babbling.”

“I can’t say anything about the fight other than we are trying to put it all in place,” said Arum.

Mayweather’s admission from Las Vegas came in a video posted on YouTube that he would be taking a two-year break from boxing. “I’m taking a couple years off… away from the sport of boxing. I want to devote my time to my boxing gym,” he said.

Mayweather has retired before, of course. He ‘retired’ after fighting Oscar De La Hoya; he went into ‘retirement’ after defeating British Ricky Hatton in 2007, only to return to defeat Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez in September 2009.

Last month, he was brilliant in beating Shane Mosley, in a contest which may have earned him in the region of $40 million. My view is that he is just playing hard to get, as he will have to be ‘tempted’ out of retirement to fight against Pacquiao, in a contest that is estimated already to be capable of grossing around $200 million.

For his part, Mayweather could earn over $50 million with the meeting of the best two fighters from the last four years in boxing likely to break television pay per view records of 2.25 million buys set when Mayweather fought Oscar De La Hoya in May 2007.

Source: blogs.telegraph.co.uk