Liam Neeson says Mayweather scared of Pacquiao

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MANILA – Hollywood actor Liam Neeson believes that the only thing holding back the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. mega fight is Floyd’s unwillingness to face the Filipino boxing superstar. 

In an interview with ESPN, the Oscar-nominated actor admitted being one of the fans waiting for the super fight to take place.

“I would pay any amount of money to be at that fight,” said Neeson, who is known for his performances in Hollywood films like Taken, Les Misérables, Clash of the Titans and The A-Team.

Neeson used to box in the amateur ranks during his teens in his native Ireland.

“I was OK, I was competent. I was a jabber, I had a good jab. I had about 40 fights and I won about maybe 30,” he said.

The now 60-year-old actor branded Pacquiao as one of today’s best boxers.

He even picked the Filipino to win over Juan Manuel Marquez on December 8. He said the fighting congressman has the attributes of a great champion.  

“Pacquiao is still amazing. He's getting a little bit older, but in the championship rounds, from 9 to 12, he just gets stronger and stronger and stronger,” said Neeson.

“That's the sign of a great champion.”

Neeson thinks Mayweather is a great fighter, too.

But the downside with Mayweather, he said, is the American boxer’s refusal to fight Pacquiao.

“I think he's scared of Pacquaio… I don't mean he is scared, like terrified of his life, but I think he thinks he can see in Pacquiao someone that could beat him.”

Mayweather confirms fight with Pacquiao

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LOS ANGELES—Floyd Mayweather Jr. has spoken to Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao by telephone to discuss a possible megafight next May, advisers to each fighter confirmed to several media outlets on Thursday.

Mayweather adviser Leonard Ellerbe confirmed the call to ESPN while Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum did the same to BoxingScene.com and Pacquiao himself talked with ABS-CBN in the Philippines about the short conversation.

The Philippine report quoted Pacquiao as saying there would be no problem if Mayweather would agree to a 50-50 split of income from what is expected to be the richest fight in boxing history—as much as $100 million—if it ever comes off.

Unbeaten US star Mayweather and Pacquiao, regarded as the world’s top pound-for-pound fighters, nearly made a deal for a fight once before but the American’s insistence on unique antidoping blood tests helped kill the talks.

This time, Mayweather has a May 5 date booked at a Las Vegas arena while Pacquiao’s promoter wants a late May date to assemble a huge outdoor arena so tickets can be sold to boost profits by as much as $50 million.

“Floyd wants to fight Manny Pacquiao on May 5 and he went as far as to reach out to Manny Pacquiao personally,” Ellerbe said.

‘Step Up, Punk’

Ellerbe told ESPN that Mayweather called from Las Vegas to the Philippines after earlier this month calling out southpaw Pacquiao on Twitter, making taunts, “Step Up, Punk,” to the world welterweight champion.

“I can’t say what exactly was said but I know,” Ellerbe told ESPN. “Floyd has shown more than a willingness to get this fight done and this is really, really what he wants to do and what he wants to give to the fight fans.”

Mayweather has spoken with Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz several times in recent weeks, according to all reports.

Outdoor arena

Pacquiao, 54-3 with two draws and 32 knockouts, has won his past 15 fights over a span of nearly seven years while Mayweather, 42-0 with 26 knockouts, must serve a 90-day jail sentence starting June 1 after a domestic violence conviction.

Arum said that the issue of who Pacquiao would next fight would be resolved this coming week.

Arum, who is chair of Top Rank promotions, presented four other possible foes for “Pacman” as next opponents, including Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto, Americans Lamont Peterson and Tim Bradley and Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez.

Arum earlier said a fight with Mayweather at the end of May or even early June would give the Filipino champion time to heal from a 29-stitch cut he suffered in his fight with Marquez last November.

That would also give time for a 45,000-seat outdoor arena to be built—more than twice the capacity of the MGM Grand Garden Arena, where Pacquiao has fought before. MGM Grand can hold some 17,000 people.

Pacquiao, Mayweather top athlete income earner

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NEW YORK – Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, the boxers that fight fans worldwide want to see in the ring together, topped the list of the 100 highest-paid athletes released by Forbes magazine on Monday.

Mayweather, who ranked No. 1 for making $85 million off two fights last year, is serving a three-month jail sentence for domestic battery in Las Vegas, having failed in a bid to serve the remainder of his time under house arrest.

While his doctors and co-manager warned that staying behind bars might cause irreparable damage to his fitness and risk his boxing career, the undefeated US fighter is expected to climb back into the ring, likely later this year.

But Mayweather will not be fighting Filipino icon Pacquiao in the mega-bout that boxing fans have sought for years.

Pacquiao, second on the list at $62 million from earnings and endorsements, lost to unbeaten US fighter Tim Bradley on July 9 and they are set to fight a rematch in November.

Tiger Woods, who had topped the Forbes list since 2001, fell to third this time with $59.4 million, his earnings off $16 million from the previous year and by half since his peak in 2009, mostly due to lost endorsement deals.

It was in 2009 that Woods, a 14-time major champion chasing the 18 major titles won by Jack Nicklaus, saw a sex scandal erupt that caused him to start his 2010 season late and 2011 saw Woods nagged by injuries.

Woods went on a 17-month win drought until he won last March at Bay Hill in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He followed up with a victory earlier this month at the Jack Nicklaus-hosted Memorial but has not won a major since the 2008 US Open.

Miami Heat star LeBron James ranks fourth at $53 million, the highest of 13 basketball players and on the list. The Heat are playing the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals as James seeks his first league crown.

While a lockout last year trimmed 20 percent off his salary, endorsement deals boosted his total and a marketing partnership made him a stakeholder in English Premier League football side Liverpool.

Swiss tennis star Roger Federer was fifth at $52.7 million followed by NBA star Kobe Bryant at $52.3 million, US golfer Phil Mickelson at $47.8 million, English football star David Beckham of the Los Angeles Galaxy at $46 million and Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo at $42.5 million, with the top annual salary of any athlete in any league at $20 million.

American football boasts 30 players on the list, topped by No. 10 Peyton Manning, the former Indianapolis Colts star who was cut in March and signed with the Denver Broncos for $96 million over six years.

Manning’s $42.4 million ranks 10th overall and he continues to be the top endorsement pitchman among gridiron stars.

In total, the top 100 made $2.6 billion.

Only two women, both tennis players, cracked the list – Russian star Maria Sharapova, the newest career Grand Slam winner after her French Open final triumph earlier this month, and China’s Li Na, the 2011 French Open champion.

Sharapova was 26th at $27.9 million, thanks in great measure to huge global endorsement totals as well as $5.9 million in prize money over the past year.

Li was 81st overall at $18.4 million, with seven new endorsement deals after becoming the first Asian-born player to win a Grand Slam singles crown.

Cricket star Mahendra Singh Dhoni ranked No. 31 and India batsman Sachin Tendulkar was No. 78.

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, the reigning 100- and 200-meter Olympic champion and world record-holder who figures to be a top attraction at the London Olympics, was 63rd with $20.3 million.

Mayweather defeats Cotto but his nose bleeding

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Miguel Cotto came out and put on a hell of a show in his HBO pay-per-view bout with Floyd Mayweather, being the first man to really test Floyd for any sustained amount of time since Mayweather fought Jose Luis Castillo twice in 2002.

Cotto was able to trap Floyd against the ropes much of the fight and dig to the body, and eventually that opened up hard shots to the head that did draw blood from the nose of "Money." But in the end, it was Mayweather's ability to get his hard right hands, uppercuts and jabs in with enough regularity to take most of the fight.

Mayweather took the fight on official scores of 117-111, 118-110 and 117-111. The crowd disagreed, having been caught up in the underdog putting forth a tremendous effort, but we had the fight scored 116-112 here at SB Nation, so it's hardly an indefensible score.

Cotto was not exactly the opponent fight fans were hoping to see Mayweather go up against on Saturday night. That is not to say he was a bad choice, just not the most popular choice. 

Now that Mayweather has taken care of business against Cotto, all eyes will be on Manny Pacquiao and his June 9 bout against Timothy Bradley. 

Like Cotto, Bradley is not exactly the opponent that everyone envisioned for Pacquiao. It will be interesting to see what happens with these two superstars if Pacquiao walks away with a victory next month.