Floyd Mayweather Jr. Considering Marcos Maidana, Not Manny Pacquiao, As Next Fight Opponent

Floyd Mayweather Jr. revealed that Marcos Maidana could be his opponent in his next fight scheduled on May 3 after the newly-crowned WBA welterweight champion's victory over Adrien Broner.

Mayweather told Fighthype that Maidana is now on the list of his possible opponents in his next fight, while also saying that the highly-anticipated showdown with Manny Pacquiao will not happen because the Filipino boxing icon is under Bob Arum's Top Rank Promotions.

"Maidana's name is now in the lottery jackpot box. We all know the Pacquiao fight, at this particular time, will never happen, and the reason why the fight won't happen is because I will never do business with Bob Arum again in life, and Pacquiao is Bob Arum's fighter. Bob Arum gives Pacquiao a date, whereas Floyd Mayweather gives Floyd Mayweather his own date," Mayweather said.

Maidana, who holds a 35-3 record with 31 knockouts, boosted his stock after handing Broner the first defeat of his career.

The 30-year-old Argentine fighter, who was considered the underdog heading into his bout against Broner, scored a unanimous decision victory in their title showdown a week ago -- a victory that was highlighted by knockdowns in the second and eighth round of the bout.

Now that he is being considered as Mayweather's next opponent, Maidana expressed excitement over the possibility of facing the undefeated American, saying that he wants to see whether or not he can also hand Mayweather the first defeat of his career like what he did to Broner.

"I'm going to rest and wait for someone to call me with a good fight and a good proposal. I haven't heard anything about a rematch [with Broner]. They said they want a rematch, but nothing has been said to me. I would like to have a fight at Luna Park. I would like fight Mayweather, because he is the number one fighter. Nobody has beaten him and I want to see if I can do it," Maidana said in a Boxingscene interview.

Aside from Maidana, Mayweather, who is coming off a lopsided victory over Saul "Canelo" Alvarez in September, also mentioned British boxing icon Amir Khan as one of his possible opponents in his May 3 bout next year.