Floyd Mayweather posted a video to his Instagram of his run-in with Manny Pacquiao. The exchange between the two men was brief, to the point, and furthermore: likely staged. As Mayweather boasted about his 1-0 personal record against Pac, the Philipino boxer gestured towards his waist in an apparent ploy to draw attention to his WBA title win in July,
Smartly, Floyd did not the question the dubious status of Manny Pacquiao's "secondary" title reign. Injured welterweight Keith Thurman remains the WBA's "Super Champion" in the Welterweight division. The WBO, IBF and WBC titles are held by Terence Crawford, Errol Spence Jr. and Shawn Porter respectively. Don't be fooled, new blood has staked its claim within the division, and those names don't even represent the bulk challengers waiting in the wings. With that being said..Mayweather still has some pull.
Floyd 's IG posting includes the caption from which we drew the inspiration for this news story, however improbable. Mayweather wrote: "I’m coming back to fight Manny Pacquiao this year. Another 9 figure pay day on the way." Pacquiao loyalists will always question the circumstances, had he not suffered a shoulder injury in the leadup to the bout would things have gone differently? They will also question the PED issues and the postponements, but the real question in 2018, in my mind: are both men game for another 3-month minicamp to close out the year?