By Norm Frauenheim-
There are more tired excuses than reasonable explanations for what happened May 2 in the colossal failure to fulfill even a fraction of the expectations for the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fight.
Still, everybody attached to the pay-per-view affair will try. They have to. Believe it or not, there’s even more money to be made. There are still contracts to fulfill.
Hence, we’ll hear form Mayweather all over again Saturday night (9 p.m. ET/PT) in a Showtime exclusive with Jim Gray in a production titled “Inside MAYWEATHER vs. PACQUIAO Epilogue.”
After all the outrage throughout the week following the welterweight bout, it sounds more like autopsy than epilogue. Still, it should be interesting to hear Mayweather address a laundry list of issues and allegations that has emerged since his unanimous decision over Pacquiao at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.
According to a Showtime release, Mayweather talks about mid-week news that he’d be willing to do a rematch. He confirms he sent a text to ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, saying he would be interested in a second fight. In what sounds like good news, however, he’s changed his mind.
“Did I text Stephen A. Smith and say I will fight him again? Yeah, but I change my mind,” Mayweather says. “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.’ ”
After all the ridicule and criticism of the first fight, wouldn’t a rematch be a working definition of insanity? You know the one about doing the same dumb thing over and over again. Of course, Mayweather might change his mind again. Besides, this is boxing. Oh boy, a trilogy.
According to the release, Mayweather also addresses the post-fight disclosure from Pacquaio that he fought with an injury to his right shoulder. He underwent surgery for a tear on Wednesday in Los Angeles.
“Excuses, excuses, excuses,” says Mayweather, who is 48-0 with one fight left on his Showtime contract. “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.”
According to the release, Mayweather also says he did not know of Pacquiao’s injury, which is believed to have happened in early April while sparring at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, Calif.
In an interview with Filipino media on the Sunday after the fight, Pacquiao alleged sabotage. He said that
Mayweather knew about the shoulder. He alleged that somebody, perhaps a Mayweather plant at the Wild Card, leaked the news.
Pacquiao said Mayweather repeatedly pulled on his right arm in an attempt to aggravate the injury. Pacquiao said he re-injured the shoulder in the fourth, ironically his best round in the 12-round bout.
“Absolutely not,” Mayweather says when asked if he was aware of the injury. “He was fast. His left hand was fast. His right hand was fast and he was throwing them both fast and strong.’’
