“I don't think it will ever happen. Nope. It will be one of those fights we're never going to see,” Pacquiao's boxing trainer Freddie Roach told Yahoo! Sports
Pacquiao, the top boxer in Ring Magazine's pound-for-pound list, has long been pitted against No. 2 fighter Mayweather.
Roach said the fight won't happen for the simple reason that Mayweather doesn't want to share the boxing ring with the Filipino champion.
“We wanted the fight so badly. We agreed to have everything. And that didn't happen because Floyd doesn't wanna fight Manny, that’s the bottom line,” said the Hall-of-Famer boxing coach.
Efforts to make the fight have already failed twice.
Negotiators from both camps first met January this year to have the fight made. The talks bogged down when the American boxer demanded the Filipino to undergo Olympic-style drug testing, alluding that Pacquiao has been using performance enhancing drugs. The Filipino superstar decided to fight Ghana Joshua Clottey, instead.
After Pacquiao's unanimous decision win over Clottey last March, Top Rank chief Bob Arum, again worked on holding the super fight. This time, the Filipino champion has agreed to undergo drug testing up to 14-days before the bout. Mayweather's camp, however, refused to acknowledge that negotiations have taken place. This claim was belied by HBO president for Sports, Ross Greenburg, who acted as the "go between" of both sides.
Roach said Mayweather seems to be contented on facing boxers he knows he can beat.
“I think Floyd (Jr.) is going to be content with fighting mediocre-type opponents, opponents with styles he knows he can beat,” he said.
The supposed “Fight of the Century” is viewed as a boxing goldmine with both boxers assured to earn millions of dollars in fight revenue.
“[It's] $40M guarantee to both sides for pay-per-view. Come on, how can you turn that down? Boxing's a sport, but it's a business also. This is our livelihood, what we take care of our families for the rest our lives,” said Roach.
Pacquiao is now decked to fight against Mexican Antonio Margarito on November 13 for the World Boxing Council (WBC) super welterweight title.
Mayweather, on the other hand, is facing felony charges for allegedly beating up his ex-girlfriend Josie Harris.
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