Pacquiao vs. Marquez: Is Manny Pacquiao's Camp Scared of Floyd Mayweather?

Manny Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum has been saying for a while now that it is Floyd Mayweather Jr. who is avoiding a potential superfight between the top two pound-for-pound boxers in the world.

But Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer had an entirely different story for us to ponder.

Said Schaefer, via ESPN:

"

"I am sick and tired of Bob Arum twisting the truth. It's another case of 'yesterday I was lying, today I'm telling the truth.' The truth of the matter is that we received this afternoon an email from retired federal judge Daniel Weinstein, who has informed us that Top Rank is pursuing a rematch with Marquez and, therefore, is not interested in immediate talks for a possible Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. This is obviously as clear as it can be that they have no intentions of making a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. Therefore, Floyd Mayweather will have no other choice than to move on and identify and lock in another opponent for his ring return on May 5."

"

Pacquiao is coming off a controversial victory over rival Juan Manuel Marquez, in which Pacquiao won via majority decision.

In that fight, Pacquiao landed more punches at a higher percentage, but many believed Marquez dictated the pace of the fight and landed more quality punches, using his counter-punching ability to knock Pacquiao back a few times.

That's why this news is interesting and somewhat believable, because many believe Pacquiao has taken a step back lately and would fall to an even better counter-puncher in Mayweather.

For so long Arum has been claiming it was Mayweather's camp that was preventing the superfight, and that may have been the case then, but it appears now that the dynamic has changed.

There is, of course, the chance that Pacquiao isn't satisfied with his latest victory, which had the majority of the crowd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas booing from the rafters. Even after a 2-0-1 record against Marquez, there is still plenty of controversy surrounding who won the first three fights. Many believe that Marquez also deserves another fight with Pacquiao before he retires.

But the fact of the matter is Mayweather and Pacquiao aren't getting any younger, at 34 years old and 32 years old respectively, and this fight needs to happen soon to truly judge who is the best fighter of this generation.

We've already been waiting for this fight for years.

It's time to set a date or let us accept the fact that two of the greatest boxers this generation has ever seen will never fight against each other.