This May 2, 2015, file photo shows Floyd Mayweather Jr. speaking during a press conference following his welterweight title fight in Las Vegas. Mayweather said in an upcoming interview with Showtime that at this moment he’s not interested in a rematch with Manny Pacquiao “because he’s a sore loser and he’s a coward.” (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
NEW YORK— Floyd Mayweather said in an upcoming interview with Showtime that at this moment he’s not interested in a rematch with Manny Pacquiao “because he’s a sore loser and he’s a coward.”
The interview was recorded late Tuesday night and will air Saturday night after the network’s replay of boxing’s richest fight, which Mayweather won by decision last weekend in Las Vegas to stay undefeated.
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Asked if he thought Pacquiao was hampered by the right shoulder injury that later required surgery, Mayweather tells Jim Gray, “Absolutely not.”
“Excuses, excuses, excuses,” he said later.
READ: Pacquiao cries conspiracy
“He was fast,” Mayweather insists in quotes released Thursday. “His left hand was fast. His right hand was fast and he was throwing them both fast and strong.”
Using an expletive for emphasis, Mayweather adds that “I’m not going to buy into” it, “and I don’t want the public to buy into” it.
“He lost,” Mayweather said. “He knows he lost. I lost a lot of respect for him after all of this.”
READ: Pacquiao: I thought I won the fight
Pacquiao admitted, after their May 2 fight, that he fought Mayweather with an injured right shoulder that slowed him down.
He had arthroscopic surgery in Los Angeles to repair what his surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache said was a “significant tear,” as ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael reported.
Pacquiao will be out of action for nine months to a year while Mayweather will finish his six-fight contract with Showtime/CBS in September then retire from the sport.
No to rematch
Mayweather earlier told ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith that he was willing to wait for Pacquiao’s injury to heal for a possible rematch.
READ: Mayweather offers rematch; it’s magical to Pacquiao
He is now singing a different tune.
“Yeah, but I change my mind,” Mayweather said. “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.’” With a report from Bong Lozada, INQUIRER.net