Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: Money Won't Retire Before Making Ultimate Fight Happen

Floyd Mayweather may have hinted at retirement after defeating Miguel Cotto on Saturday, but that's just because this man is a performer who knows how to give the people the most dramatic show possible.

And because of that—because he is the ultimate competitor—there is no way he can retire before giving the people the show they have wanted for three years: Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.

Mayweather is a boxer who knows how to put on a show, how to give the audience its money's worth. He knows how to say the kinds of things that will grab headlines and how to work a narrative.

He also knows that there is no way he can go down in history as the greatest boxer of our time without beating the one guy who stands a chance of sullying his pristine 43-0 record.

Mayweather's win over Cotto on Saturday was exciting. It wasn't the no-contest landslide many were expecting to see; it was a hard-fought battle and will go down as one of the best of Mayweather's career. After it was over, Mayweather even told Cotto he was the toughest competitor he had ever faced, according to the Associated Press. 

But Cotto doesn't compare to Pacquiao, and Mayweather knows it.

After Saturday's fight, Mayweather told the AP, "I don't know where we're going to go from here because we basically have fought everybody in this sport. I don't have to fight if I don't want to."

And retirement was a conclusion many leaped to. It made sense: Mayweather looked and sounded more spent than usual after his battle with Cotto, and he isn't going to have many opportunities to improve after spending the next 87 days in jail due to a no-contest plea in a domestic abuse charge.

But as soon as someone brought up the prospect of a bout against Pacquiao, Mayweather said, "The Pacquiao-Mayweather fight is not going to happen. It's not my fault."

It kind of is his fault, though. He and Pacquiao can't agree on the terms of the fight. They can't agree on the finances, they can't agree on the drug-testing procedures. Maybe (probably?) they just don't want to fight and they're both looking for an easy way out without having to be the one who says no.

Neither legend wants to put his legacy in jeopardy. But still, the fight will happen because neither one of them wants to retire with a very conspicuous asterisk next to his name.

Mayweather is just too much of a competitor to avoid the ultimate test forever.