Floyd Mayweather: Manny Pacquiao had his chance, he should worry about the IRS

Floyd Maweather spoke with FightHype's Ben Thompson about his upcoming May 3 date, the candidates for that fight, and of course, Manny Pacquiao.

Let's take a look at bits of that interview, but make sure to read the full article at FightHype. Floyd says a lot more than just this.

"If the Amir Khan fight presents itself, then you know what? It presents itself."

Classic Floyd line. Words that say nothing but could be put into a crummy blog headline.

"Once again, Amir Khan has a good following, so if it makes business sense, then it makes money. No different from the Ricky Hatton fight; it made sense. Even like the Maidana fight; that fight makes sense. A lot of people believe in Maidana because of the Adrien Broner fight. They think since Adrien Broner has a style similar to mine, they think Maidana can crack the MayVinci Code."

Two things here:

1. The Khan fight is nothing like the Hatton fight. Hatton was an undefeated hero with a truly massive and dedicated fan base. Amir Khan is an also-ran with a home base in the U.K. that has proven largely indifferent to him. He's not going to travel like Hatton did, and the fight is much less significant. It's apples and crappier apples.
2. The second part here is another classic Floyd bit, in a very shrewd way in terms of planting a seed. Mayweather does not come out and say that Maidana is a good opponent so much as he says that "a lot of people" and "they" see Maidana as legitimate. As with all things now, this little line can get passed around enough that media will say the same thing -- "a lot of people believe in Maidana's chances against Floyd," it will become. The source of that is Floyd Mayweather, but it won't be him quoted if it spreads like it could. That's smart. Floyd's good at that stuff.

But the meat of the interview is, of course, on the guy he won't be fighting any time soon or ever, Manny Pacquiao.

"Pacquiao had his opportunity. He had his chance. When he had his opportunity and he had his chance, I guess he was tooting his own horn and he felt like he was on the same level as me. It's obvious he felt like he was on the same level as me status-wise because he wouldn't have asked for 50/50. So now, two losses later and he's got a problem: the IRS. They don't play. ... I'm jut speaking from what I hear, that he got a problem with the IRS, both here and in his country. ... (He) could care less if he (wins); all you want to do is fight Floyd Mayweather to clean up a tax bill basically. He's got a $68 million tax problem now. He couldn't put ten fights together and make $68, so now, who is he chasing?"

(NSFW LANGUAGE)

It's hard to imagine any other response from Mayweather on the Pacquiao thing right now. Manny's got other issues to deal with, and adding 1 + 1 may not equal the true answer in this case, but it's certainly useful enough. It would be foolish to expect Mayweather to have anything other than this to say. If it were a poker game, Floyd's stack has quadrupled Pacquiao's at this point in time.