Pacquiao Keeps Rolling. Is Mayweather Next?

Since a surprising 2012 loss to Juan Manuel Marquez, Manny Pacquiao has gone 3-0 and looked like his old dominant self. Will he finally get his long-awaited shot at the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr?

By Warren Rodriguez (@RodrigWM)

Ok guys, he's going to let him out the cage.

Tim Lane, the trainer for Chris Algieri (20-1), may have the worst timing ever.

Lane is taking a beating of his own after the odd and delusional advice he gave his fighter during his WBO welterweight championship bout with Manny Pacquiao (57-5-2) in Macau, China this past Saturday. During the 9th round, HBO analyst Max Kellerman went over to interview Lane and get the game plan.

Severely behind on the scorecards and having already been knocked down four times, Lane said of Algieri, "He's going to put (Pacquiao) to sleep here in a few minutes. I'm going to let him go in one more round. I've got him in the cage right. I'm going to let him out the cage."

Kellerman seemed dumbfounded by the comment and asked "The plan is to have Algieri knock Pacquiao out?"

"Yes," responded Lane. "But I still got him in the cage. He listens to me very well. I'm going to let him loose in a round or so, round 10 or 11, I'm going to let him go."

Immediately following that comment, Pacquiao drilled Algieri with a left hook that nearly decapitated him.


Algieri would get back up, but suffer yet another knockdown before the round was over. True to his word, however, Lane would let Algieri out of his cage at the end of the 10th round, although at that point it was way little, way late.

Pacquiao would win an easy unanimous decision on two judges' scorecards 119-103, while another judge scored the bout 120-102.

Since being put to sleep by Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012, Pacquiao has had three fights and been dominant in each of them. With Pacquiao's latest performance, talks are heating up once again for a Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown sometime next year. Pacquiao has been especially vocal as of late in calling out Mayweather, even taunting him a recent Foot Locker commercial.

Pacman's trainer Freddie Roach has gone so far as to set up a meeting between Pacman's promoter Bob Arum and CBS chief executive Leslie Moonves, who controls the Showtime network with which Mayweather is four fights into a six bout deal worth $250 million.

With boxing's cold war over and Top Rank and Golden Boy willing to work together, and HBO and Showtime seemingly willing to put on a joint PPV event, and Pacquiao conceding to all of Mayweather's demands, it seems Mayweather is finally out of excuses...

However, expect Mayweather to stay true to form and come up with another excuse to avoid the bout with Pacquiao, seeing it as too much of a risk to his perfect record. If only Mayweather had a trainer like Tim Lane who would let him out the cage and let him step into the ring with Pacquiao.