The Pacman is back, with vengeance on his mind.
Whether Floyd Mayweather will grant Manny Pacquiao the opportunity to vex his grudge is a question wafting on the desert breeze through Las Vegas.
Mayweather materialised at ringside to watch a Pacquiao fight for the first time in their parallel fistic lives.
The Pacman punched Mr Money’s dance card with every thudding blow he landed on Jessie Vargas in the course of winning his 11th world title of a phenomenal career which still has gallons of high-octane petrol left in the tank.
Will Mayweather accept this invitation to take to the floor from the ring’s first and only eight-division champion?
Well, he looked light on his feet and acutely focussed as he strolled into the Thomas and Mack Center just off the fabled Strip a few minutes before Pacquiao made his re-emergence from a retirement not much longer than a holiday.
Can Mayweather be tempted into a similar comeback?
Much may depend on how he viewed Pacquiao’s exploits on Saturday night through his strange prism.
There was no knock-out, even though Pacquiao went after his first stoppage for seven years as keenly as a tipsy punter chasing a painted lady around Sin City.
That could give Mayweather justification in his own mind for shrugging his shoulders and going back to spending money like water.
Or he could go along with the general consensus that Pacquiao proved he can combine successfully his arduous day job as a Senator in the Philippines with the gruelling regime of an elite prize-fighter.
Then concur that he did so with a vintage Pacman performance which would validate a reprise of the richest fight of all time.
Forking out a hundred bucks to watch Mayweather-Pacquiao II when the first edition was a snooze-fest would be a stretch for the pay-TV customers.
But a promoter as wily as Bob Arum is more than capable of reminding them that Pacquiao was injured last year and convincing us all that we are fascinated in seeing if he can wow the audience when fully fit.
The electric atmosphere generated by the fans, among whom he was one, will also have tugged at Mayweather’s heart and purse strings.
Vegas is Floyd’s manor and he loved being the centre of attraction here himself. Although he turned heads momentarily he was, for the most part, just another spectator.
The excitement is what brings almost all of them back. The smell of the greasepaint, the roar of the crowd, the thrill of it all ? he will not have relished seeing Pacquiao soaking up all the attention which once belonged to him.
It may be that he will prolong the process by requiring Pacquiao to produce another command performance, next spring, to generate higher interest come next September.
There are echoes here of how he delayed and delayed agreeing their first fight until the time was right to cash in ? big time.
And while no other fight in our lifetimes will come close to selling $600 million worth of pay-per-view buys, even a 50 per cent drop in revenue would still leave Mayweather and Pacquiao each banking $110 million and $80 million respectively.
Not too shabby, even for Mr Money.
Pacquiao has made good on his first part of the deal by beating up a man much bigger than himself. Vargas looked more than the official four inches taller.
But in the end, although he fired a few good shots of his own in the early rounds, it was only his size and physique which enabled him to survive the full 12 rounds.
That became his minor victory as Pacquiao went on to reduce his face to mush.
Vargas described this losing defence of his WBO world welterweight crown as ‘a game of speed chess.’
If so then it was with the emphasis on Pacquiao’s phenomenal speed, which remains un-slowed even though he is approaching 38.
Vargas was given one standing eight count after being dropped. Had referee Kenny Bayless not ruled as slips two other genuine knock-downs ? to the boos of the crowd ? along with two more marginal calls Pacquiao might well have ended it inside the distance.
Those spine-rattling left hooks and the bewildering combinations served notice that Pacquiao is still one of the greatest fighters on earth, as he is likely to give further evidence come the Easter recess in the Philippines Senate.
The same may well be true of Mayweather but to prove it he has to lace up the dancing shoes again.
As the Pacman has just reminded him, it takes two to tango.
