*Although he sent ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith a text saying he would consider a rematch with Manny Pacquiao after a unanimous decision victory on May 2, Floyd Mayweather Jr. has changed his mind.
Speaking to Jim Gray during an interview that will premiere on Showtime this Saturday night, Mayweather called Pacquiao a “coward” and a “sore loser” before going on to say he is no longer open to a rematch.
“Did I text Stephen A. Smith and say I will fight him again? Yeah, but I change my mind,” said Mayweather. “At this particular time, no, because he’s a sore loser and he’s a coward. If you lost, accept the loss and say, ‘Mayweather, you were the better fighter.”
It has been widely reported that Pacquiao fought the fight on May 2 with a severely torn right rotator cuff, on which he recently had surgery that will keep him out of competition for 9-12 months. Mayweather clearly isn’t happy about the mere implication that his victory is somehow tainted, and that a healthy Pacquiao would’ve indeed given him the fits many expected he might.
“Excuses, excuses, excuses,” continued Mayweather, who remains undefeated in his professional career with a record of 48-0, just one win shy of Rocky Marciano’s iconic 49-0 career mark. “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.”
Pacquiao, meanwhile, could face disciplinary action for failing to disclose his injury on a pre-fight questionnaire. The fighter could be slapped with a fine or a suspension, and there have even been talks of a perjury charge.
Nevada Athletic Commission chairman Francisco Aguilar has said that the state attorney general’s office will investigate why Pacquiao checked the “no” box a day before the fight on a commission questionnaire asking whether he had an injury.
“We will gather all the facts and follow the circumstances,” Aguilar told The Associated Press Monday. “At some point we will have some discussion. As a licensee of the commission you want to make sure fighters are giving you up-to-date information.”
NAC executive director Bob Bennett was more pointed.
“It’s not just the fact he didn’t fill out the question completely, it was that he wasn’t honest and they didn’t tell us a month ago when he had the shoulder injury,” said Bennett, who confirmed that Pacquiao filled out the form himself and clearly understood the questions.
As far as Mayweather is concerned, the injury didn’t impact the fight at all.
“Absolutely not,” Mayweather told Gray when asked if he could detect a problem with Pacquiao’s shoulder during the bout. “He was fast. His left hand was fast. His right hand was fast and he was throwing them both fast and strong.”
