Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: Mega-Fight on Life Support After Pac-Man's Loss

Manny Pacquiao's inexplicable split-decision loss to Timothy Bradley means his potential mega-fight with Floyd Mayweather is on the back-burner.

The judges absolutely screwed him. He should have won handily, but their ill-conceived decision now leads to an inevitable rematch between Pac-Man and Desert Storm.

ESPN.com's Dan Rafael reports that Pacquiao has already said he wants to knock Bradley out in the rematch. Rafael says "Pacquiao has a rematch clause in his contract, and the date was already determined to be Nov. 10 in the event of a rematch."

Mayweather is currently serving jail time in Las Vegas, and he's set to get out in August. With the rematch between Pacquiao and Bradley set in November, there is no way Money May and Pac-Man will be able to hook up until 2013. 

That's where things start getting tricky.

Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, has been saying for a while now that Pac-Man plans on retiring in 2013 to pursue politics, according to Forbes.com, specifically to run for governor of his province in the Philippines. 

Pacquiao is already a Filipino Congressman—a position he won in a landslide victory over Roy Chiongbian in 2010, according to Time. Political theater isn't just a passing fancy for him—it's a true passion.

Pacquiao will certainly have enough money after his rematch with Bradley to last him the rest of his life, so the massive purse that could come from a fight with Mayweather might not be as motivating to him as the chance to become governor.

Besides, it's not like this fight with Mayweather was absolutely going to happen in the first place, even if Pacquiao had won against Bradley. This potential mega-fight has been talked about for what seems like two years now, but the two sides are no closer to making it happen now than they were when they started.

At best, Pacquiao's loss to Bradley moves the fight with Mayweather into 2013. At worst, his loss ensures that this fight won't ever happen.

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