Mayweather bout 'buzz in background' as Pacquiao arrives in Macau

Manny Pacquiao didn’t need the huge bouquet of flowers he was holding to feel welcome in Macau, where he will be fighting at an odd hour on Sunday against an opponent who has to already feel as though he won boxing’s biggest lottery.

Pacquiao got them anyway on Tuesday night at his official grand entrance at the Venetian hotel-casino. He smiled and posed with them because there’s a fight with Chris Algieri to sell, something Pacquiao seems to be taking more seriously as his career begins heading into the later rounds.

There are also new rumblings along the Floyd Mayweather Jnr front, but more on that later. For now, Pacquiao seems re-energised as he plots what he hopes will be a spectacular performance that might stop talk about his declining knockout power – he hasn’t had a stoppage in five years now – and entice Mayweather to finally enter the ring with him sometime next year in what would surely be boxing’s richest fight ever.

“I’m not predicting a knockout, but I’m looking for a good fight and looking to prove I can still fight,” Pacquiao said. “I’m willing to fight anybody. I’m not ducking anyone.”

That includes Mayweather, of course, and promoter Bob Arum said there have been some preliminary behind-the-scenes talks to make the long-awaited fight finally happen. Whether it actually takes place, though, depends largely on Mayweather, who only recently has given indications he may be more agreeable to make the fight than he has in the past.

Arum said he has had recent discussions with Leslie Moonves, head of CBS Corp, about the fight and is somewhat optimistic the parent company of the Showtime network Mayweather is contracted to can help get it made.

“I believe they have talked to Mayweather and that he is on board,” Arum said. “Whether that is true or not, I don’t know.”