Pacquiao’s plan: Stick, move

If Floyd Mayweather Jr. wants to fight Manny Pacquiao, he'll have to wait.

After Pacquiao's dramatic second-round knockout of junior welterweight Ricky Hatton on Saturday, trainer Freddie Roach made it clear that Pacquiao's camp, not Mayweather, will set the schedule for the pound-for-pound champion.

The unbeaten Mayweather, who announced hours before Pacquiao-Hatton that he would end his 11-month retirement to return to the ring, claims to have a hit list of opponents: Pacquiao, Shane Mosley and Juan Manuel Marquez, whom Mayweather will fight July 18 at the MGM Grand Garden.

"Mayweather should have waited a day if he wanted to fight Manny," Roach said. "I think he's scared to fight Manny.

"But we're not going to wait around. We like to stay busy, and we'll see who's out there and make the best possible fight for Manny."

Pacquiao's promoter, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, said no decision on his next fight will be made until after the welterweight bout between Miguel Cotto and Josh Clottey on June 13 at New York's Madison Square Garden.

"We'll sit down with Manny and Freddie, like we always do, and we'll come up with a plan for the next fight," Arum said.

Pacquiao left his future in his promoter's hands.

"I am comfortable at 140 pounds, so I want to stay there," Pacquiao said. "But whoever my promoter says to fight, that's what I'll do."

Roach acknowledged the more lucrative and attractive matchups are at 147 pounds: fights with Mayweather, Cotto and Mosley.

"We'd like to stay at 140, but there are a lot of interesting challenges for us at 147," Roach said.

Hatton's future, meanwhile, appears to be much murkier. He seems to have regressed since stopping Paulie Malignaggi on Nov. 22, and there was speculation that Hatton (45-2) and Floyd Mayweather Sr., his trainer for the last two fights, would part ways.

"I don't want to get into that personal stuff right now," Mayweather Sr. said late Saturday while Hatton was being checked out at Valley Hospital.

The trainer said Pacquiao was stronger than he thought he would be and that was the difference in the fight.

"I was surprised by Pacquiao's power," Mayweather Sr. said. "One thing I can say about Manny is he is a powerful young man."

Yet if Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 knockouts) fought his son, Mayweather Sr. had no doubt who would win, saying Floyd Jr. would "whip his ass."

"He's on a higher skill level than Pacquiao," Mayweather Sr. said.

For one of the few times in recent memory, Mayweather Jr. (39-0, 25 knockouts) agreed with his father. "Pacquiao can't beat me," he said. "He's not on my level."

Mayweather Jr. , who before his retirement held the informal title of pound-for-pound king that Pacquiao now claims, said he didn't even watch Saturday's fight, that he took his daughter bowling instead.

Pacquiao's mind wasn't on boxing either after his win over Hatton. He partied by singing at Mandalay Bay with his band, which he flew in from the Philippines.

"It's time to celebrate," he said.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913.