Floyd Mayweather Jr., the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world is fighting Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez on September 14th in the biggest fight of the year. Manny Pacquiao, however, is fighting soon as well and he still has eyes on "Money" Mayweather in the future.
Pacquiao is slated to face Brandon Rios in Macau, China on November 23rd. The pair of fighters appeared on ESPN's First Take to promote the fight, but of course, the specter of Mayweather hangs over almost every fight that takes place.
Rios was asked whether Pacquiao would have been able to dethrone Mayweather two years ago, when the stock of both fighters was at an all-time high. Rios responded, "I still got to go with Floyd. Floyd is still the man, he can take two years off and still do the job."
Pacquiao appeared miffed, claiming Mayweather may have had an advantage over him style-wise because he runs, as opposed to Pacquiao who makes the fight. Rios disagreed, saying, "When was the last time you saw Floyd run? Against [Robert] Guerrero he stayed in the pocket. Against [Victor] Ortiz he didn't run, he stayed in the pocket. With [Miguel] Cotto he didn't run and that was a great fight with him and Cotto-but he still didn't run. How many times have you seen Floyd beat up and bruised up? Only with Cotto I saw him a little."
Although two consecutive losses to Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez have faded Pacquiao's star, trainer Freddie Roach thinks Pacquiao's far from done. Even more, he thinks a dominant win over Rios can put Pacman on track to get his shot vs. Mayweather.
"Look, we all thought he beat Bradley, so throw that out. And in the Marquez fight, I thought he was doing well and was looking like he was going to win by knockout when he made a mistake and ran into a shot. That happens. That's boxing. It didn't happen because his skills aren't the same as they used to be. It happened because he made a mistake. It doesn't matter what age you are, you can make a mistake."
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