Jeff Mayweather: Megafight Still Possible

7:15 PM // 0 comments // Ian Purugganan // Category: Mayweather , Pacquiao //

Even if the adviser of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. claimed that there were no negotiations with Team Pacquiao for the November 13 super showdown, a glimmer of hope still stands for the dream fight.

Mayweather’s uncle, trainer Jeff Mayweather, seemed to have not closed the door on Pacquiao.

“Of course he’s going to fight Top Rank fighters,” Jeff said of the Filipino boxing icon after the Mayweather-Pacquiao negotiations fell apart for the second time.

“You have [Antonio] Margarito, you have [Miguel] Cotto, and I’m sure he has somebody else. But it will be good if Manny wins because that gives hope that a fight with Floyd will possibly happen next year,” Jeff told Chris Robinson of Examiner.com.

Jeff also commented on his nephew’s career despite Floyd saying that he will take a break from boxing to focus on his gym and charity work. (Read: Floyd dodging Manny? Mayweather eyes 2-yr break)

“I think that Floyd is going to fight in 2011,” stated Jeff.

Pacquiao and Floyd were supposed to face off on March 13 but they disagreed on the drug testing protocol.

Same drug testing issue

Jeff, however, still took shots at Pacquiao, the reigning World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion.

“I do think the Floyd fight was a retirement package. I think he had to spend a lot of money to win that election because he was going up against an entire family and it wasn’t cheap,” said Jeff.

Pacquiao won as the lone congressional representative of Sarangani province last May 10. He defeated Roy Chiongbian, the brother of the former congressman.

Jeff also stressed that it was Pacquiao’s refusal to undergo random blood testing leading up to the fight that led to the fight’s collapse.

He noted: “First off. Pacquiao wanted to do 30 days. Then he went down to 24 days. Then he agreed to 14 days. But he said that he agreed to random testing up to 14 days. I never knew that random had a cutoff. So basically if you don’t have a cutoff it doesn’t mean it’s random at all. That’s why negotiations went down. It was the same as before.”

This is contradictory to the pronouncement of Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum, that the drug testing issue was resolved.

“I think that issue [drug testing] was resolved,” the Top Rank, Inc. head told Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. “I believe it was resolved and I don't want to go into the details.”

Self-negotiation?

Meantime, Jeff also shared his thoughts on the Pacquiao-Mayweather talks, specifically the deadline that Floyd reportedly snubbed. (Read: Mayweather misses deadline for Pacquiao fight offer)

He said, “First of all Bob Arum is not Floyd’s boss. So he can’t demand anything for Lil’ Floyd. That’s the first of everything. This man isn’t his promoter. It’s one of these situations where Floyd or Manny could do well without one another. But who was he to set a deadline?”

He also defended his nephew’s “no comment” stance on the Pacquiao issue. (Read: Mayweather: Pacquiao, boxing not on my mind now)

“To be honest I don’t think anyone even contacted Floyd,” said Jeff. “I think it was just self negotiation. Because realistically I haven’t read one article where Floyd said anything. It looks like this was all Bob’s negotiation.”

[Boxing News Sources: ESPN.com, Examiner.com, ABS-CBN]