Boxing

Pacquiao: No Mayweather negotiations

ESPN staff

January 4, 2014

Manny Pacquiao will next fight in April © Getty Images

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Manny Pacquiao has confirmed he is not in talks with Floyd Mayweather over a proposed fight between the pair, in an interview with Philboxing.com.

Fight fans have long dreamed of seeing Pacquiao and the undefeated Mayweather square off, with Manila newspapers claiming over Christmas that a September 2014 date had been set.

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But Pacquiao denied the rumours, and questioned whether he will ever fight Mayweather, who has also dismissed the reports as a "lie".

"I have no plan to go to the US to talk to Floyd. That's not true," Pacquiao said. "If it's a done deal already, how come I do not know anything about it?"

Having beaten Brandon Rios in Macau in November to bounce back from successive defeats to Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012, speculation over a long-awaited showdown with Mayweather was renewed.

Disagreements over pre-fight blood testing scuppered previous talks between Pacquiao and Mayweather, with the American vowing to never work with the Filipino's promoter Bob Arum.

Pacquiao will next fight on April 12 according to Arum, though an opponent has not yet been chosen.

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ESPN staff