‘Rematch would solely be about greed’

AP FILE PHOTO

Now is the time to stand up and get ready for The Rematch?

Not so fast please, cries top-ranked international referee Bruce McTavish from his Angeles City base in Pampanga.

Anything wrong with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and rival Manny Pacquiao?

“Both have been great, and it is time for them to step aside,” explains McTavish, voted the 2013 and 2015 World Boxing Council most outstanding referee.

That, of course, was a calm, courteous way of saying another Mayweather-Pacquiao encounter would not be good for boxing.

There are truly great match-ups to focus on, says the eminent boxing broadcaster Jim Lampley, like the budding big bout between Gennady Golovkin (GGG) and Canelo Alvarez.

Lampley explains: “It would be a shame and another loss for boxing if casual fans, boxing brokers, the general public, were distracted by a for-profit only replay of a considerably less interesting fight.”

Warns Lampley: “Avoid falling for the pitch that a surgically repaired shoulder and a decision win over Jessie Vargas are indications that Manny Pacquiao is ready to beat Floyd Mayweather Jr.”

If the rematch ever pushes through, Lampley warns, it would be a big, big win for shameless profit-takers.

That fight would solely be about greed, Lampley gets quoted by international sports correspondent Josh Katzowitz as saying.

Meanwhile, Mayweather, firmly retired, would say Bob Arum’s claim that The Rematch has a 75 percent chance of going up was wide off the mark.

“I’m a promoter, here to help these fighters get to the next level,” Mayweather clarifies.

Mayweather would stress that his only role in boxing now will be outside the ring.

“Stop asking me about fighting,” he cries. “Listen.  I don’t want to fight anymore.”

He concludes:  “If you don’t get it from my mouth, it’s not true.”

Period. Nothing follows.