| Floyd Mayweather Jr. AFP FILE PHOTO |
UNDEFEATED American world welterweight boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Wednesday challenged anew his Filipino rival, Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao, through his Twitter account.
“I’m ready to put my belt up. What about you Manny Pacquiao? Let’s make history,” Mayweather tweeted.
The brash World Boxing Council welterweight titlist attached his picture seated next to the WBC championship belt.
Pacquiao, the reigning World Boxing Organization welterweight champion, accepted Mayweather’s challenge and suggested a fight 50-50 split of the purse for a fight in the end of May.
On Tuesday, Mayweather hurled his first direct challenge to Pacquiao for a fight on May 5 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
“Let’s fight May 5th and give the world what they want to see... My Jail Sentence was pushed back because the date was locked in. Step up Punk,” Mayweather tweeted.
As if taunting Pacquiao, Mayweather’s close friend, rapper 50 Cent, accused the Filipino ring icon of being scared to fight during in a visit Wednesday to the ongoing International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas where he showed up with the boxer’s entourage.
A video of the rapper’s rant was posted on FightHype.com by veteran boxing scribe, Ben Thompson, who has easy access to Team Mayweather.
“We’re trying to bring some attention to the general public about Pacquiao because he’s running scared right now. We’re looking for him right now,” said 50 Cent on a microphone at the CES, a major annual technology trade show in Las Vegas.
“...So if you see somebody who know [Pacquiao], say, ‘Why is your man scared?’ He don’t wanna fight May 5th,” the rapper added.
For all the gamesmanship and hype, however, both sides have yet to agree on a firm date for the mega fight which could be the richest boxing event ever, with Pacquiao and Mayweather expected to earn $50 million each.
Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, said that the fight would have to be made this year, lest people’s interest in the match-up begins to wane.
“I think it has to be made in 2012 because the fight is starting to lose momentum. So they better do it this year,” Roach said.
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