Floyd Mayweather an underdog to Manny Pacquiao? Early oddsmakers say yesIf Floyd Mayweather fights Manny Pacquiao anytime in 2010, the Grand Rapids native could find himself in a unique position he never has experienced in a championship fight -- as the underdog.
Station Casinos, which operates a chain of properties across this area, established Pacquiao as a slight early favorite of roughly 3-2 odds on wagers that become live action if the fight occurs before Jan. 1, 2011.
All bets would be returned if the fight does not happen by then.
Mayweather made his first statement about the potential for a Pacquiao fight in an exclusive interview with England's Sky Sports, saying all the Filipino has to do to make the fight is step up and ask.Mayweather noted that Pacquiao did not discuss future plans in the aftermath of a scintillating 12th-round technical knockout of Miguel Cotto on Saturday, although Pacquiao did say several times during the prefight buildup that he wants the proposed megafight but fears Mayweather will balk.
"I'm in a no-win situation no matter what happens," Mayweather told Sky Sports. "If I beat Manny Pacquiao, you know what they're going to say -- 'You're supposed to beat him, you're Floyd Mayweather, you're the bigger man.' And then if I outbox him, they're going to say, 'It was a boring fight.' But then if I knock him out, they're going to say, 'Well, you're supposed to knock him out. He's been knocked out before.'
"Whatever I do to Pacquiao has already been done. He's been beat before, on three occasions, and if I knock him out, I don't want the world to be shocked because he's been knocked out twice before, so it's nothing new. Where the world is going to go wild is if Floyd Mayweather gets beat. That's what everybody's looking to see."
Station Casinos set the early betting line on speculation that Mayweather would, in fact, lose.
The casino chain opened Pacquiao as a minus-160 favorite with Mayweather a plus-140 underdog.
By Monday night, early action on Mayweather had dropped the odds to minus-135 on Pacquiao ($135 wager returns $100) and plus-115 on Mayweather ($100 wager returns $115).
Mayweather has been heavily favored in most of his championship fights, except twice when he was a slight favorite of just more than even-money, in his first title bout against Genaro Hernandez in 1998 and in a megafight against the late Diego Corrales in 2001.
Pacquiao vs Mayweather
