Pacquiao and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum called out Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the strongest terms possible to step to the plate and make the fight the boxing world has been waiting to see.
Pacquiao has been reticent on the subject in the past, but after knocking down Chris Algieri six times in a lopsided decision early Sunday in Macau, the WBO welterweight champion said he and Mayweather need to reach a deal. "I think it's time to say something," Pacquiao said.
"The people deserve that fight. The fans deserve the fight. I think it's time to make that fight happen."
"But right now, I think the fans are involved with this issue of a fight with him. So I think the fight has to happen because the fans deserve it.
"Questioned as to why he has changed his strategy and decided to become more vocal on the subject of Mayweather, Pacquiao said: "I want that fight, but I think I'm just the one talking, talking about that fight, but the other camp is denying, denying, they're always denying to talk about that fight. So it was better to say nothing.
During the week leading up to Pacquiao's fight with Algieri, Arum said talks on the framework of a deal between HBO, which televises Pacquiao's fights, and Showtime, which has a contract with Mayweather, have taken place. There's a long ways to go to reach a split that is palatable to both sides, but it's clear the only one who can give the go-ahead is Mayweather.
Asked what his next step is, Arum shrugged and said: "Answer the phone. Simple as that.
"So I'll be at the phone. Manny will be at his phone. We're ready. You saw the Foot Locker commercial. He showed you how ready he is.""If boxing is to be considered a major port, it has to have it.
All the nonsense has to cease. Everybody should be working together to make that fight happen. There's no excuses anymore. None.
At that point, Pacquiao chimed in with his lines from the commercial, saying excitedly, "He's going to fight me! He's going to fight me!"
There is no mistaking Arum's exasperation with the whole process.
"Speaking for myself, we're tired," the promoter said. "Every place we go, they ask us, 'When is it going to happen? When is that fight going to be made?'
"I say enough is enough. Let's just make the fight happen.
Let's get it done the next fight for each fighter sometime in the first six months of next year. That's our position, and we're going to do what we can to make it happen."
Foot Locker's Week of Greatness 2014 - It's Happening feat. Manny Pacquiao
