Mayweather vs Pacquiao: Boxing Fans Must Hope Jail Time Changes Money May's Tune

With Miguel Cotto behind him and the Junior Middleweight title belt fastened around his waist, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. now prepares for three months away from the public eye, with but 13 words on which the boxing world will stew with equal parts resigned disappointment and wistful hope:

"The Pacquiao-Mayweather fight is not going to happen," Mayweather said. "It's not my fault."

The disappointment, of course, comes from the proclamation that Money May might never cross paths with Manny Pacquiao in a mega matchup that's seemingly too painfully obvious to actually take place. Rather than settle their scores in the ring, these two fighters (and their unseemly entourages) have spent what feels like eons embroiled in a Cold War of finger-pointing and buck-passing. Where Mayweather has accused Pacquiao of steroid use and Top Rank CEO Bob Arum of obstructions, Pac-Man's camp has riposted with complaints about Money May's insistence on an uneven split, stemming out of his belief that he's the one filling the seats and selling the pay-per-view packages.

Neither has refrained from flinging insinuations of fear at one another, with each saying that the other is too protective of his "brand" to risk defeat. Those claims have hit Mayweather particularly hard, given his unblemished record of 43-0.

With all of that at play, it's tough to blame Mayweather for being so down on a Pacquiao fight in the aftermath of his joust with Junito. After all, he'd suffered a sufficient beating of his own from a worthy competitor as much to entertain the Floyd-hating fans as from a genuine struggle to overcome the Puerto Rican pugilist in the opposite corner. He'd been pestered by questions about Pacquiao at every turn, from every interviewer at every opportunity. 

Money May might also be forgiven on account of the gravity of the situation, of his coming to grips with the fact that he was in for the biggest and most humbling bout of his life, one with his own misgivings, while locked up in prison.

Though, it's also there that fight fans might find even the smallest glint of hope that Mayweather and Pacquiao might be able to strike a deal before the sands of time consume both of boxing's greatest attractions.

Perhaps all that time spent in solitude will grant Mayweather the time and energy to reflect on his life—past, present and future—with a much heavier quotient of clarity and mindfulness. Perhaps he'll come to terms with the error of his ways and, in the absence of an army of "yes" men and the trappings of wealth and decadence, realize that he, like any man, is neither invincible nor infallible.

Perhaps he'll ease off his belief that Pacquiao shouldn't get an even split or at least gain enough of a measure of humility to sit down with his people and negotiate in earnest.

Or, perhaps, something will happen between Pacquiao and Arum that necessitates a change of some sort.

There may be too many hypotheticals at play to think that any of this will come to fruition, though until the fall, it's all the boxing world will have on which to draw in the hope that Money May and Pac-Man will finally come to blows.

Follow @J0shMart1n