By Chris Robinson
It's hard to believe just how fascinated the public once was with the proposition of Floyd Mayweather facing Manny Pacquiao in a pound-for-pound duel.
At the moment, Pacquiao is still stinging from his highly-controversial split-decision loss to Tim Bradley on June 9th, a fight that the general public had him winning in overwhelming fashion. The General Santos City, Philippines native is looking towards a November 10th return but his opponent is yet to be determined.
Mayweather last fought on May 5th, pulling out a tough twelve-round unanimous decision over Puerto Rico's Miguel Cotto. The undefeated star just recently got out of the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, having completed 63 days of a scheduled 87-day jail sentence stemming from a domestic violence case nearly two years ago .
Mayweather made his share of headlines behind bars, as it was announced that he and his good friend 50 Cent would be teaming up to launch TMT (The Money Team) Promotions upon his release. That specific piece of news has the sport intrigued, including respected Showtime analyst Al Bernstein, who I crossed paths with this past weekend.
"Obviously he's out and apparently he's a head of a new promotional company along with 50 Cent." Bernstein stated from the Texas Station Hotel Casino, moments before Jose Benavidez Jr.'s 4th round TKO over Javier Loya in a Telefutura show.
"All kinds of wild speculation here now; I guess we can let our imaginations run wild." Bernstein continued.
Coming full circle, Bernstein admitted that his curiosity towards a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight happening has again been perked ever so slightly.
"I keep seeing these little rumors that there are some inklings of talks between him and Pacquiao." said Bernstein. "I don't know if that's true, I have no idea, but that's fascinating. I think any change in the dynamic, even though it's a small one, maybe that's a good sign."
Bernstein admits that he had pretty much given up on the fight happening and still points towards his hesitations.
"Oh yeah. To me, the changes were very slim and they're still not high. But maybe there's a little more hope," said Bernstein.
