In an exclusive interview to be broadcast on Showtime TV today, the pound-for-pound king calls Pacquiao a “sore loser” and a “coward” and backtracked on reports that he would be interested in a rematch with the Filipino star.
“Did I text [ESPN’s] Stephen A. Smith and say I will fight him again?” Mayweather told Gray. “Yeah, but I change my mind. At this particular time, no, because he’s a sore loser and he’s a coward. … If you lost, accept the loss and say, ‘Mayweather, you were the better fighter.’ ”
At the heart of Mayweather’s discontent with Pacquiao is his right shoulder injury, which he claimed he suffered during training and underwent successful surgery last Wednesday to repair a torn rotator cuff and is expected to be out of action between nine to 12 months.
Pacquiao talked about the injury in the post-fight news conference and said it limited him in the bout but that he didn’t want to use it as a reason for the loss.
“Excuses, excuses, excuses,” Mayweather said. He lost. He knows he lost. I lost a lot of respect for him after all of this.”
Mayweather improved to 48-0 in the richest and most financially successful fight in boxing history and is slated to fight again in September, but whom he will face remains a topic of discussion.