Floyd wants Pacquiao

http://www.mlive.com/boxing/index.ssf/2008/12/mayweather_sr_floyd_wants_me_t.html


GRAND RAPIDS -- Floyd Mayweather Jr. wants to fight again and has reached out to his father about returning in a training capacity after their estrangement for most of the last eight years, family members said Monday.


Janelle Mayweather, the boxer's cousin, told family members he called her early Sunday morning -- moments after Manny Pacquiao's stirring win over Oscar De La Hoya on Saturday night in Las Vegas -- and stated his hopes to fight again and reunite with his father.


"My niece said my son told her he wanted to fight Pacquiao next, and that he wants me to train him for the fight," Mayweather Sr. said.


Bernice Mayweather said she was not surprised to hear her grandson -- a five-division champion with a 39-0 record, who last fought Dec. 8, 2007 -- wants to return to the ring.


"I always said he was going to fight again," she said. "It was just a matter of time. He was waiting until the time is right. And the time is right. I knew he was going to come out of retirement -- he did it before, didn't he?"


Janelle Mayweather disclosed her conversation with Mayweather Jr. to family members Sunday at Bernice Mayweather's home on the southeast side. She did not return a telephone message seeking comment.


Latisha Starling, another cousin of the boxer's, also was at Sunday's family get-together.
Starling said she was on the phone with Janelle Mayweather throughout the Pacquiao-De La Hoya fight, "kind of giving her play-by-play."


"Right after the fight ended and I hung up, Janelle said her phone rang again and she thought it was me. But it was Little Floyd, saying he wanted to fight Pacquiao and he had to get in touch with his father," Starling said.


Fatimah Mayweather, the boxer's sister, also told family members she received a call from her brother, hoping to discuss resuming a working relationship with Mayweather Sr.


Leonard Ellerbe, the boxer's adviser, did not return messages seeking comment.


Mayweather Sr. molded his son's career until a string of disagreements led him to resign in 2001.


He subsequently became one of the most-sought trainers in boxing, while his son went on to become mythical pound-for-pound king under the tutelage of Roger Mayweather, Mayweather Sr.'s brother.


Mayweather Jr. may want to reunite the brothers as co-trainers, a relationship tested before the fighter's 12-round decision victory over De La Hoya last year, when Mayweather Sr. began training camp as interim trainer while his brother finished an assault sentence.


Mayweather Sr. left the camp soon after his brother's release.


Starling said Janelle Mayweather, in recounting to the family her conversation with Mayweather Jr., "said she asked Little Floyd, 'What happens to Roger if you do this?' and he said, 'Oh, there are enough millions to go around, they can both be in my corner.'"


Mayweather Sr. said his son's reaction may be emotional -- Pacquiao assumed the pound-for-pound mantle after Mayweather Jr. retired, and defended it with a sensational eighth-round technical knockout of De La Hoya in Las Vegas -- but added that, regardless the motivation, any resumption of their working relationship would require contractual security.


"I will never be dumbfounded by anything in my life again unless contracts are involved," he said. "At the end of the day, he's still my son, but I'd have to hold him accountable with a contract. I didn't have a contract first time but I never dreamed it would end like that, either."


However, he said money would not be the prinicipal consideration if he entered talks with his son.


"I don't need a whole bunch of money," he said. "I'm a wealthy man. I just need enough to accommodate me for the rest of my time on this earth."


Mayweather Sr. added that he also received a telephone call from his son early Sunday morning but his phone was off and the message was cryptic.


There's only one problem.
"He didn't leave his number," Mayweather Sr. said.