Mayweather: Pacquiao and I are not on the same level

Floyd Mayweather Jr AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Floyd Mayweather Jr. claimed that Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao is just not on the same level as he is, which could be another indication of how far apart the negotiations are for the megafight.

The American boxer said in a video interview with Fighthype.com on Thursday that as much as they are being mentioned in the same breath in the boxing world, he doesn’t see Pacquiao as an equal.

“You know, a lot of times, it’s hard to make fights…when you got a guy that when they keep trying to say, this guy Pacquiao is on the same level as Floyd Mayweather, I say, well, me, honestly, in my eyes, that’s not true,” he said.

Talks about a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, which has been shelved a couple of times in the past five years as talks always fell through, resounded anew after Pacquiao got back on the winning track last November against Brandon Rios.

Shortly after that comeback win, Pacquiao, who celebrated his 35th birthday last December 17, said that he is willing to fight anybody.

“My job is to fight and I will fight anybody who will fight me. I am willing to fight Floyd so it’s up to him,” Pacquiao said in an interview.

But with Pacquiao’s clash against Rios in China only generating 450,000 pay-per-views buys, paling in comparison to his defeat to Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012 which hit 1.15 million, it would be harder to negotiate for an even purse.

And Mayweather is well aware of his edge in PPV numbers, drawing as much as 2.2 million buys against Saul Canelo last September.

“My pay-per-view number still is the best of any fighter in the history of the sport,” Mayweather said in the same interview posted on YouTube.

While he knows Pacquiao is more commercially successful, with endorsements left and right, here and in the United States, Mayweather also said that it wasn’t the gauge of greatness.

“I didn’t need a Nike check on my back, I didn’t need a Nike Commercial. I didn’t need a Hennessy commercial,” said the undefeated 36-year-old boxer.

“But still, once we did our homework, we look at the numbers, Floyd didn’t need Nike. I never needed Nike or Hennesy, to run me a hundred thousand commercials, ’cause that still don’t define greatness.”

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