Manny Pacquiao Next Fight 2014: Mayweather Set For September Match; Opponent TBD

Don't say PacMan yet but, still, save the date: Floyd Mayweather Jr. will fight a mystery opponent on September 13. According to ESPN, the date has been set barely two weeks since Mayweather outpointed Marcos Maidana. 

"Floyd will go on Sept. 13 and we are looking at who he's going to fight and where he is going to fight," Mayweather Promotions chief executive Leonard Ellerbe said in May. "We will take a look at our other options."

The Showtime pay-per-view fight will be the fourth of six bouts, worth around $200 million, that Mayweather (46-0, 26 KOs) entered with Showtime/CBS early last year, the report added. Ellerbe said Mayweather would consider fighting in New York for the first time in his career this fall.

The fight with Maidana was quite a walk in the park, Ecumenical News said, but the good show he provided does not leave him out of the options. British Amir Khan also expressed his willingness to go up against Mayweather but, being a Muslim, he won't fight during Ramadan--thus, he is out of the mix for now.

Cotto is also eager for a rematch, coming off a 2012 loss to the Money in May, especially after his victory over Sergio Martinez recently. A Mayweather vs Pacquiao bout would be historic, too, given all the many times the two have been pitted against each other, at least in the fans' dreams.

But this could be a hard sell for Forbes' top earner-athlete, reported the Daily Mail in April, taking Fredie Roach's word that a loss marring the undefeated record would be too big a blow to Mayweather's career, which he would want untarnished going into his retirement years. "It looked close two years ago, but I don't think Floyd will take the chance now," Roach, Pacquiao's trainer, said.

"I don't see him taking any real risk of losing that before the end of next year, when he says he's retiring," Roach added. "It's not that he's afraid of Manny... It's just that he believes if he goes out undefeated, he will be seen as better than greats like Sugar Ray Robinson, who had losses on their records."

The Daily Mail report also recalled how Pacquiao's camp agreed to several requests of Mayweather just so the fight could push through.

"I think Mayweather wanted the fight then," the Roach said. "Later when we put them on the phone together Floyd said he wanted blood testing and 60 per cent of the money... Manny said yes to both but then we never heard back from Floyd again."

The failure to make the super-fight happen has been blamed by some on a long-running feud -- a rivalry between promoters Bob Arum (Pacquiao) and Golden Boy (Mayweather), the Daily Mail reported.

But Roach added: "Down the years, no matter what the issues, if two fighters really want to fight each other they make it happen."