By Chris Robinson
It can be hard having a conversation with Floyd Mayweather Sr. when the topic of Manny Pacquiao comes up. Despite the Filipino sensation having amassed an incredible run in the sport over recent years, Floyd Sr. would prefer not to hear anything of it, instead hinting that perhaps the 32-year old has been using performance enhancing drugs to bolster his career.
Of course the simple fact that Mayweather's son Floyd Jr. has been linked to Pacquiao as a possible opponent for the past few years is a big reason for his reaction, but whatever the case it is hard to find a sense of objectivity from the 58-year old whenever the General Santos City fighter's name is mentioned. With that fact in mind, I still was curious enough to ask Floyd Sr. for his thoughts on Pacquiao's upcoming bout with Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas during our conversation earlier tonight.
Giving his take on everything, Floyd again started off by questioning Pacquiao before weighing in on Mosley's chances.
"I aint never seen anything like it in my life," said Mayweather. "I don't know if everything is on the up and up. A lot of things are happening man and all I can say is, I think Shane might fall short."
Last November I had ran into Mayweather Sr. and his brother Jeff on the eve of Pacquiao's challenge of Antonio Margarito for the vacant WBC junior middleweight crown. What Floyd Sr. told me surprised me, as he mentioned that Floyd and he had been talking about Pacquiao in-depth after hearing of how the Margarito camp had been mocking trainer Freddie Roach's Parkinsons Disease.
Floyd Sr. went on to call Margarito's actions 'cruel and ugly' while also stating that he and Floyd were going to check the fight out. Nearly six months later and I again asked Floyd Sr. whether his son would again be keeping his eye on Pacquiao.
"I'm pretty sure he'll be watching it. He might be there [inside the MGM Grand] but I doubt he will be there though. He'd get into too much trouble up there anyways if he goes to places like that."
The boxing world is waiting to see what Floyd Jr.'s next move will be, as he has been inactive for nearly a year, dating back to his May 1st drubbing of Mosley, and is currently swamped with legal and financial burdens. Mayweather Sr. closed our talk by trying to remain optimistic on everything and also beckoning back to the initial Mayweather-Pacquiao fallout.
"It's possible. If you get somebody who wants to fight on the up and up, on the same terms like it's supposed to be, the fight should go on. The fight would have been on. They all know why the fight didn't take off."
