The boxing world waited for over five years for the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout to finally take place, and while people got the event they wanted, the fight itself did not live up to the hype. In the third and final part of my interview with Teddy Atlas, I discuss with him the possibility of a rematch between Mayweather & Pacquiao and if he thinks fans would buy into that fight. Atlas also talks about a Crawford vs. Pacquiao bout and if he thinks it would be a good match up. Additionally, Teddy comments on the future of Floyd Mayweather and if he thinks Floyd will return for a fiftieth win. Here is what Teddy Atlas had to say.
(Listen to hear Atlas’s thoughts on Thurman vs. Porter & Adrien Broner’s future)
Robert Brown: After Manny Pacquiao’s victory over Tim Bradley, do you think this will start the jungle drums for a rematch against Floyd Mayweather?
Teddy Atlas: I think Manny’s gonna wind up coming back, that’s number one, I do think that he will come back. It was comical, they were putting this fight forward as his last fight, but even in the press conferences they were saying, “Well maybe it’s his last fight,” they were already hedging. If you know it’s a guy’s last fight, you’re not saying that maybe it’s his last fight.
Obviously there’s an understanding there that it’s probably not his last fight and if I was asked to bet on it, I would probably wager that it’s not going to be his last fight. Having said that, I don’t think there’s any interest in a rematch with Mayweather. The way that fight went and the styles of the two fighters, one guy that can be aggressive and the other fighter who takes the air out of the ball. Mayweather fights a defensive fight, he doesn’t take chances, he’s terrific. I love Floyd, but it is what it is, he fights a careful fight, he disarms you, he doesn’t fight a TV friendly fight.
Mayweather doesn’t fight the kind of fight where you want to pay seventy dollars for pay-per-view, or one hundred dollars for pay-per-view. Being that we already got a dress rehearsal of that, why would you want to go see it again? I just don’t understand why people are even asking that question, or proposing the possibility of a rematch having seen what they’ve seen already.
Robert Brown: Do you think if they fight again it will be the same result?
Teddy Atlas: I think if you’re a boxing aficionado, you love Floyd. If you go to a baseball game and you want to see a shutout, a no hitter, you’ll love Floyd. If you want to see homeruns, you don’t pay money for that. I just don’t see where there’s going to be a push for people to pay for it.
When people want to pay for something that happened already, they want the hope that it’s going to be interesting, that it’s going to be a barn burner, that there’s going to be flames. When Floyd fights, he does the opposite, he puts the flames out. I just don’t see the market for that fight.
Robert Brown: Would a fight between Manny Pacquiao and Terence Crawford interest you?
Teddy Atlas: I think there’s a lot of guys that Crawford can fight, it doesn’t have to be Pacquiao. But yeah, obviously Crawford is a very good talent and his technique is good. He takes that talent within the vehicle of good technique where he can get the most out of his talent and displays it in the best way that makes sense for him. Even though he’s moving up in weight, he still has good reach and pretty good size.
Crawford is a very talented fighter, and right now he’s a very confident fighter too. I would like to see Crawford and Errol Spence in the welterweight division. I think Errol Spence is a very solid fighter, I don’t see any weaknesses, he does so many things solid and very well and on top of it he’s got good skill traits to go along with it, and he’s got that great amateur background.
Robert Brown: Do you think Floyd will come back for one more payday or do you think he’ll stay retired?
Teddy Atlas: If I was forced to put a bet, I would say that Floyd will come back. I think the number fifty would sound better to him, he likes history, he likes doing things that are special. Fifty would stand him alone even more so than he already stands.
Besides being a very good defensive fighter and a magician so to speak, an escape artist, a ghost in the ring, he’s been a very smart businessman and a very smart manager. I think that he is smart and I think that he’ll look for the right spot — he’s done it before, he retired once before and he looked for the right time to come back when people were ready for him to come back, when the sport was ready and when it made sense economically to come back.
I think that he’ll do the same thing again, he’ll let us miss him a little bit and see what life in boxing is without him and then wait for something to be created. When that imagination is right and when there’s a fight that he thinks is right to be able to captivate the audience, I think at that point you may see Floyd Mayweather come back.
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The reason why they won’t say it’s Pacquiao’s last fight is that Pacman’s senatorial seat is yet unguaranteed but now that he has won, IT WAS INDEED Pacquiao’s last fight. People can say what they want but the truth is, even how hard it is for us his supporters to accept, his boxing career is over. Even he knew it while he was training for his last fight, there was excitement in his preparation while he was getting nostalgic as the same time, he knew it was the LAST TIME. You should note that being a senator is a whole lot different from being a congressman in the Philippines.
floyd should stay retired since he’s a silent PEDs user.
According to Teddy, “Mayweather likes history”. Sorry since I am not good in boxing history but, aside from generating the highest revenue in boxing history with Pacquiao what other record did he already achieve that others couldn’t (of course since we are talking record here)? Thanks for understanding.