Manny Pacquiao Aiming For Rematch With ‘Running’ Floyd Mayweather In 2016

Pound-for-pound boxing king Floyd Mayweather may have garnered a massive financial haul for his unanimous decision win over Manny Pacquiao at May 2’s supposed “fight of the century,” but many, if not most, of the people who bought would probably tell you that the bout failed to live up to its massive hype and buildup.

Much of that was due to Mayweather’s elusive style in the ring, which he used to largely evade Pacquiao’s advances and pepper him with his vaunted jab. “Money” said that he would grant “Pacman” a rematch, but then rescinded his offer after Pacquiao supposedly ran his mouth about his longtime rival.

But it ‘s a fight that Pacquiao is still actively looking to get, as he recently told Japanese media during a trip to the World Basketball Conference (via Fight News) that he thinks he won the fight because he pressed the pace at tentative “Money”:

“He was running away all the time. I was making the fight by stalking him and believe that I deserved a victory.”

Pacquiao, who is a politician in his native Philippines, then said he wants to focus his efforts on a potential rematch with Mayweather:

“I’d like to concentrate my efforts on working as a politician this year, and want to fight Mayweather in a rematch. I’ll be ready for that mentally and physically next year. I’ll show a better performance against him than in the first encounter.”

A lot of his lackluster performance in their first fight may have been because Pacquiao went into the fight with a shoulder injury that later required surgery. He said that he’s healed up well, moving his shoulder around for reporters:

“I can lift my shoulder like this. No problem any longer.”

While Pacquiao may be healed up and looking for a rematch with Mayweather “Money” currently has a fight booked against Andre Berto this September 12, and he’s reportedly retiring afterwards. As for the bout, Pacquiao thinks it’s going to be a good fight, which is more than most have said about the fight thus far:

“It will be a good fight as Andre Berto is fast and strong.”

Do you agree with Pacquiao? Can he coax Mayweather to stave off retirement long enough for a rematch that will hopefully deliver more excitement than the first bout?