Pacquiao vs. Mayweather: Ball Is Now in Manny Pacquiao's Court

Right after the controversial Pacquiao vs. Marquez fight on Nov. 12 in Las Vegas, unbeaten champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr. has taken the offensive in a media blitz that saw Pacquiao losing the fight even before it gets started.

Mayweather, whose other talent on top of his boxing skill is marketing/promotions, has gone miles away in the race for top spot on public awareness, a key component in generating pay-per-view buys for his fight.

Seemingly, the unbeaten champion is using Pacquiao to promote himself, regardless of the outcome of future negotiations with Pacquiao's promoter.

Right now, the ball is in Pacquiao's court. If the Filipino boxing star holds on much longer to that ball in his own court, the more Mayweather gets the desired media mileage he needs to drum up public awareness for his upcoming fight—which may or may not be a fight with Pacquiao. Either way, he will emerge a winner.

Mayweather has successfully erased his longtime tag as a "ducker," a term used by many boxing fans for having ducked Pacquiao in more than two years, using his "take the test " spiel as cover. Fans were saying he was scared or afraid to face Pacquiao for fear of losing his untainted career record.

And now Mayweather is saying he is not afraid at all and even dares Pacquiao to man up and sign the contract.

"I've been told May 5 is open," he said. "Losing is in Pacquiao's mind because he lost just last week. He lost to Marquez three times. May 5 is the date; sign the contract, I'm waiting.

"I can't be sitting waiting all day; you want to fight, let's make it happen. I'm here, I'm waiting, what's going on? I can sign today. If I sign today, you better sign tomorrow.

"You said you're a clean athlete and you said you'd take the test, so let's do it."

Pacquiao's adviser, Michael Koncz, said Team Pacquiao will not discuss with the promoter anything until after Christmas holidays.

"We're not going to rush judgment about who we're going to fight or when we're going to fight," Koncz told RingTV.com. "The facts of the matter are that Manny Pacquiao just went through a very difficult fight. As always, we'll take a couple of weeks just to relax."

Again, the longer Pacquiao holds on to the ball in his court, the better for Mayweather as he will continue be the darling of media—at least until Pacquiao is able to return the ball after Christmas and New Year holidays.