By Edward Chaykovsky

Former heavyweight great Evander Holyfield is going for the underdog. Holyfield is backing Manny Pacquiao to hand Floyd Mayweather Jr. the first defeat of his pro career on May 2nd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Mayweather, 38-years-old, is riding a 47-0 undefeated streak. The two welterweight champions will collide for the WBO/WBC/WBA titles on pay-per-view.

Holyfield says everyone will eventually suffer a defeat at some point. He says the fight will be close, with Pacquiao winning a twelve round decision.

"Mayweather won't win, because from what I've seen, boxing doesn't want nobody to get out [of the sport] undefeated," Holyfield told Sports on Earth. "They want to keep the money in the sport by doing things to make it happen this way: Somebody beats the man, and then somebody beats the man who beat the man, and then somebody beats the man who beat the man who beat the man who beat the man."

"So I'll tell you what's going to happen, because it's going to be a close fight. Yeah, it'll be close, and Pacquiao is going to get the decision. Then it's going to be a matter of whether Mayweather is going to fight again, whether he feels like he has made enough money to say, 'I ain't got to fight.'"

Holyfield does expect Mayweather, if he loses, to fight again - because there will be too much money in a Pacquiao rematch and other fight options as well.

"It's a good chance Mayweather is not going to hang it up, so there's going to be another $100 million [fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao] and all like that. [Boxing executives] set it up that way. It's because they will not let you out of boxing undefeated, not unless you trick them."