Manny Pacquiao: November 12 Should Be the Only Date on Pac-Man's Mind

May 5, 2012.

That is when the big one will happen. Manny Pacquiao. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. In the same ring. Punching the daylights out of each other.

Finally.

Maybe...

By now, you've probably heard where this date comes from. A member of Mayweather's camp told ESPN.com on Wednesday that they're targeting May 5 for Money's next fight, and that they want "the little fella."

If not the 5-foot-6 Pac-Man, who could that possibly be?

As far as dates go, it's a reasonable target. Pac-Man would have about six months to get ready, and Money would have even longer. That may not seem entirely fair, but Pac-Man is tackling his November 12 fight against Juan Manuel Marquez just six months after his last bout. So presumably, six months would be enough for him.

Easy for me to say. All I have to do is count. Making the decision will ultimately be up to Pac-Man.

And it's one that he can't make right now. In fact, what he is going to be doing on May 5 of next year should be the last thing on Pac-Man's mind.

There are a couple reasons for this. The first and most obvious is that Pac-Man's attention should be on Marquez. I don't think Money should ever be far from his thoughts, but he needs to worry primarily about beating Marquez. He gave Pac-Man a run for his money in both of their two previous bouts, and Marquez openly proclaims that he won both of them.

As such, the last thing Pac-Man wants to do right now is lose focus on Marquez to the point where he starts to underestimate him.

The other reason Pac-Man needs to put May 5 out of his mind is that this is a clear attempt by Mayweather to get in Pac-Man's head by calling attention to himself while he should be out of the spotlight. To use an expression, he's trying to cramp Pac-Man's style.

This is what Mayweather does. The dude knows boxing in and out of the ring, and knowing it out of the ring means knowing how to play head games. This is something Money does as well—possibly better than any boxer on earth.

If Pac-Man falls for this trick, he would already be at a disadvantage for their bout, whether it comes on May 5 or not.