INQUIRER Sports

LOS ANGELES — Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will begin negotiations on a mega blockbuster fight within the next 24 hours, USA Today newspaper reported on Monday.

Mayweather wants to fight Pacquiao and it disturbs the American boxer that the Filipino won’t admit he wants the fight as well, the newspaper reported.

“Manny Pacquiao is the fighter and every time someone asks him if he wants to fight me, he says it is up to his promoter, he’s going to take a vacation, whatever the answer is,” USA Today quoted Mayweather as saying.

“I have yet to hear him actually say, ‘Yes I want to fight Mayweather.’ We are the fighters and if one fighter is talking about fighting another fighter, then they should just come out and say it. Manny Pacquiao doesn’t say anything directly about fighting me because he might just know it’s not a fight he can win.”

Mayweather’s challenge comes just days after Pacquiao’s stunning systematic demolition of Puerto Rican champ Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas.

After a close first couple of rounds, Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs) switched to his up tempo style and pummeled Cotto for several rounds before the referee stepped in and stopped the one-sided slaughter.

The victory validated newly crowned World Boxing Organization welterweight champ Pacquiao as the greatest Asian fighter in history. It also helped raise his status, along with Mayweather’s, as two of the best current pound-for-pound fighters in boxing.

It was also the seventh world title in as many weight classes for Pacquiao, something that even Mayweather cannot claim.

‘Just step up to the plate’

“Tell Manny Pacquiao to be his own man and stop letting everyone, including his loudmouth trainer (Freddie Roach), talk for him,” Mayweather said.

“I am my own boss, speak for myself and tell it like it is. If Manny Pacquiao wants to fight me, all he has to do is step up to the plate and say it himself,” he added.

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum wants to make a deal, but he hopes egos don’t get in the way.

“All you have to know is that my fighter and his trainer Freddie Roach have gone on record saying they’re happy to fight Mayweather,” said Arum who used to promote Mayweather. “Hopefully we’ll be able to put this together. From our side, we’re willing.”

In his last fight, Mayweather decisioned Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez in September. Before that, the American boxer took a two-year hiatus from boxing. He has a reputation of being someone that is difficult to deal with.

“Maybe I prefer not to deal with him. But if your fighter wants a fight, you deal. Mayweather is not one of my favorite people and I’m sure I’m not one of his. What difference does that make?” Arum said.

Pacquiao has said he is comfortable fighting at the welterweight (147 pound) division and will like to do it again.

Manny favored over Floyd

Casinos in Las Vegas already are taking bets on who will win if Pacquiao and Mayweather ever get into the ring.

Pacquiao, coming off his dominating win over Cotto, opened as an 8-5 favorite at sports books operated by Station Casinos, and it didn’t take long for bettors to take a side.

Several $20,000 bets were put down on Mayweather, forcing the line down to 7-5 in the early going, said Art Manteris, the casino operator’s vice president of sports book operations.

“It’s been pretty decisive in the early going,” Manteris said. “I think I made the line a little too high but that’s the nature of the business.”

Manteris said he made Pacquiao the favorite based largely on the public perception of his big win over Cotto. Most of the early bets, he said, came from professional handicappers, who thought the line was too high.

Pacquiao told The Associated Press last month he didn’t think Mayweather wanted to fight him, and criticized the undefeated fighter for fighting too defensively and not trying to entertain fans.

Richest ever fight

After the Cotto fight, Roach said Pacquiao would be more than happy to fight Mayweather, but that Mayweather wasn’t going to dictate the terms of the fight.

Talks will likely be difficult, especially when it comes to what percentage of the revenues each fighter would receive.

The fight, though, has the possibility of becoming the richest ever and many in boxing assume that there is far too much money to be made for the fight not to happen.

“I think that’s the fight the world wants to see,” Roach said. “But if Floyd wants a 65-35 split (of the purse) he’s not going to get it.”

Assuming the fight can be made, it would likely take place next May.

Las Vegas casinos would have the inside track on landing the bout, but there has been speculation that it could go somewhere like the new Dallas Cowboys stadium or even Yankee Stadium.

Any bets made on the fight will be refunded if it is not held by the end of 2010.