Pacquiao signs 2-year extension with Top Rank: Pac-Mayweather officially off the table?

Nothing ignites the passion of boxing fans like a discussion about the potential fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. Widely regarded as the two best boxers in the world (even after Pacquiao's shocking KO loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012), the two men promise to be an incredibly intriguing style matchup: Mayweather is the king of defense, and Pacquiao the master of offense.

But it looks like Pacquiao himself may have put the final nails into the coffin of this woulda-coulda fight.

ESPN.com reports that Pacquiao recently signed a two-year contract extension with promoter Top Rank, whose chairman Bob Arum has been one of the biggest roadblocks in preventing the big fight from taking place.

This should mean at least another 4 fights for the Filipino superstar.

"We've been doing two fights a year so we'll continue to do two fights a year," said Arum. This is the rate at which Pacquiao has been performing since his monumental win over Oscar De La Hoya in 2008.

As for De La Hoya, the owner of Golden Boy Promotions (who promote Mayweather's fights) has allowed a cruel glimmer of hope to remain, when he called for an end to the "cold war" between Golden Boy and Top Rank in February. Still, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer has stated firmly that he refuses to work with Arum, and Arum's feelings toward Schaefer don't seem to be much warmer. At this point, it seems like the fight will almost certainly never happen.

For fans, Pacquiao-Mayweather is just too big a dream to give up entirely, but for your sake, it might be best to focus on boxing's less hypothetical matchups.