By Keith Idec

NEW YORK — Floyd Mayweather Jr. laughed when asked if he would stay in Manhattan long enough to attend the Knicks’ next home game Wednesday night against Cleveland.

Mayweather knows he would’ve been booed louder at Madison Square Garden for what he tweeted two weeks ago about Jeremy Lin than he was at times during a press conference at the Apollo Theater to promote his May 5 fight against Miguel Cotto. Nevertheless, Mayweather meant everything he tweeted regarding Linsanity.

“They fail to put that in there, when I said Jeremy Lin was a good player,” said Mayweather, who had to fly to Los Angeles on Tuesday night to continue this press tour for the Cotto fight. “And when I said what I said, I meant what I said. I don’t have no hard feelings towards anyone. Or I don’t have no hard feelings towards Jeremy Lin. Like I said before, when I said he was a good player, they failed to put that in any story that they was writing.”

Mayweather caused controversy Feb. 13 when this post appeared on his verified Twitter account: Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he’s Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don’t get the same praise.

By that point, Lin, an undrafted point guard from Harvard, had gone from a seldom-used, second-year reserve on the end of the Knicks’ bench to the most talked-about player in the NBA over an incredible 10-day span. He eventually averaged more points in his first five NBA starts than any player since the ABA-NBA merger in 1976, was the first NBA player to average at least 20 points and seven assists in his first five starts and led the Knicks on a seven-game winning streak that probably saved embattled head coach Mike D’Antoni’s job.

Many fans, media members and celebrities criticized Mayweather for his thoughts on Lin, which caused the outspoken superstar to tweet: Other countries get to support/cheer their athletes and everything is fine. As soon as I support Black American athletes I get criticized.

He later tweeted: Wow what a country and I’m speaking my mind on behalf of other NBA players. They are programmed to be politically correct and will be penalized if they speak up.

His last tweet on the matter was: Its OK for ESPN to give their opinion but I say something and everyone questions Floyd Mayweather.

Mayweather wouldn’t exactly explain Tuesday how attacking Lin was his way of defending black athletes who weren’t being attacked by an unidentified “they” he continually talked about, but he stood by his tweets multiple times.

“Let them also put everything I said out there,” Mayweather said. “I said Jeremy Lin was a good player. And, you know, go back and look at when he played against the Miami Heat. Then they said that Baron Davis, his backup, wasn’t doing his job. Things happen and, you know, do I regret what I said? Absolutely not. I stand by what I said and I meant what I said.”

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com.