Manny Pacquiao: Is Pac-Man Only In It for the Money Right Now?

When it comes to boxing, Manny Pacquiao has things pretty well figured out. Few people dispute that he is the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, and it would be pretty hard to seeing as how he hasn't lost a fight in six years.

But that's not all there is to it. As is usually the case in life, if you're the best at something, you're going to get paid like the best. A recent report from ESPN made it clear that this is definitely true of Pac-Man, as he earned $32 million in 2010. His victory over Shane Mosley back in early May only served to increase the lining in his pockets.

Because of Pacquiao's success, scheduling his next fights can be tricky. The question is not so much what a fight can do for his reputation as it is what it can do for his wallet. Certain fighters may offer the chance for a good fight, but they're not going to get the nod unless they can do their part to rake in the bucks.

This is precisely why the dream matchup with Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is so intriguing. More so than any other fighter, he is the one guy who can give Pac-Man and his camp the best of both worlds: a good fight and plenty of money. The only problem is that we just don't know if and when Pac-Man and Mayweather can ever compromise their differences so this fight can actually come to fruition.

If you were to ask Michael Koncz, one of Pac-Man's advisers, the Mayweather fight will happen "sooner or later." However, he also made it clear to FightHype.com that Pacquiao is in no rush:

"But I think sooner or later, the fight will happen, but, you know, Floyd is going to make it look like the fight is operating on his terms, when he wants it to happen. And we don't have a problem with that. We don't have to sit idle. Manny's making more money now than he ever dreamed he would make. Sure, if we fight Floyd, we can make twice as much, but we can't just sit around and do nothing either."

Once you get past the typical (and some would say justified) anti-Mayweather rhetoric, the one thing that sticks out here is the part about Pacquiao making more money than he ever dreamed. It sounds like Koncz just kind of threw it in there as if to say, "Pac-Man doesn't need the money, and he doesn't need the pain in the neck."

If that is indeed what Koncz is insinuating, well, it's once again hard to argue. He's right.

No matter who Pac-Man fights, he's going to make money. But his two most recent opponents—Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley—were beaten pretty much as soon as they signed on the dotted line. The same is probably true of Juan Manuel Marquez, who is scheduled to fight Pac-Man in November.

He may have given Pacquiao a run for his money in their first two bouts, but Marquez is going to be 38 in August. If that wasn't enough, fighting Pacquiao in a welterweight bout puts him at a disadvantage.

The point: these fights are not rigged, but the odds were (and are) overwhelmingly in Pac-Man's favor. All he had to do was give the audience 12 good rounds, collect another victory, and then get paid.

The problem with Mayweather is that he's no pushover, which renders the above formula obsolete. Sure, fighting him means a gigantic paycheck for Pac-Man, but the fact that he might actually lose is a problem. He does, after all, have a reputation to uphold.

To clarify, this is not to suggest that Pac-Man is ducking Mayweather. Pacquiao may be in no hurry to acquiesce to Mayweather's demands, but he's no coward. Regardless, it's pretty apparent at this point that Pac-Man and his camp would be just as fine with the fight not happening as they are with it happening.

Not getting into the ring with Mayweather is not going to cripple his reputation, and it is certainly not going to cripple his wallet. There are too many lesser opponents lining up to fight Pacquiao for that to ever be a danger.

Does Pac-Man care about his reputation? Of course he does. But right now, it's all good. As long as the status quo holds, the only thing that matters is the cash flow.