Ball now in Floyd’s court
Yes, it is true. Manny Pacquiao has issued an ultimatum to his elusive quarry, Floyd Mayweather Jr.
However, it is doubtful if he was able to say this straight to the face of the American pound-for-pound king when they met at American Airlines Center Tuesday in Miami, homecourt of the Heat. Or later when Mayweather met Pacquiao privately.
The Pacman had earlier announced he was giving Mayweather only up to the end of this month to sign a contract sealing their much-awaited mega fight. Otherwise, he moves on.
A couple of days ago, Pacman and the Money accidentally found themselves facing each other across a basketball court where the Erik Spoelstra-mentored Miami Heat and the Milwaukee Bucks were playing.
But as of this writing, there has been no report of what they talked about.
On television, there was a video of the two talking, very cordially and animatedly if I may say so, but all that was mentioned by the news reporter was that the two had exchanged phone numbers.
Are they concluding unfinished business on their level? If so who’ll make the first call?
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The day following his dinner with Prince Harry of Wales at Buckingham Palace, Pacquiao met with British boxer Amir Khan, his former training mate, at Fitzroy Lodge Boxing Club in London.
Clearly, the Pacman is considering a Plan B and Khan tops his wait list.
The eight-division world champion said he has done everything within his power to make the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight happen, but it has not. And now the ball is in Mayweather’s hands, he said.
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Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire Jr. has a scheduled fight at Mall of Asia Arena in March, but he doesn’t know yet who his opponent will be.
Colleagues say nobody wants to fight a raging bull like Donaire who’s dying to make up for the beating he got from Jamaican Nicholas Walters who knocked him out in the sixth round of their super featherweight title match in Carson, California, last October.
“He has been training for his next fight. I have never seen him train this hard. He will be back with a vengeance,” said a colleague.
