LAS VEGAS _ The stubborn defiance is nothing new. The position of contentment in retirement that Floyd Mayweather Jr. expresses now was seen before in 2008, 2012 and 2015.
Each time, when the riches of an enticing prizefight beckoned, he climbed back into the ring.
So to see Mayweather (50-0) feign indifference on the MGM Grand big screens Saturday night when Showtime's Jim Gray asked him if he'd accept Manny Pacquiao's challenge for a rematch in the moments after Pacquiao's dissection of 11-years-younger former four-division champion Adrien Broner is an act that has proved untrue before.
The only difference now might be that Mayweather, who turns 42 next month, is further comforted by the riches of his prior comebacks _ the six-fight Showtime deal that included the record $600 million revenue he shared with Pacquiao in 2015, the novelty fight with Conor McGregor, even the $9 million he pocketed for a one-round exhibition in Japan on New Year's Eve.
Yet, the fire to continue to prove that there's no one better still burns. It's why he just so happened to run into Pacquiao in Japan last year, again at a Los Angeles Clippers game earlier this month, and lastly, at Saturday's fight when the co-promoter could've observed from afar just as he did during fight-week events.
Nope, instead he appeared, building the anticipation for a second meeting with Pacquiao, 40, who was weakened by a torn right rotator cuff when Mayweather defeated him by unanimous decision in 2015.
That bout generated a record 4.6 million pay-per-view buys, and though the incredible dullness of the bout turned mainstream sports fans away from boxing for several years, this would be an opportunity to repair a sport both fighters have given their life to.
Pacquiao (61-7-2), after retaining his World Boxing Association secondary welterweight belt against Broner by unanimous-decision scores of 117-111, 116-112, 116-112 and frustrating the challenger who landed only 50 punches, is game.
"If he wants to come out of retirement, announce it and challenge me. Challenge me and we will take the fight," Pacquiao said. "I'm still here in this sport. Whatever my promoter (Al Haymon) gives to me, I will fight. That's my promoter's job: to find my opponent."
Haymon, the manager who runs Premier Boxing Champions, might be the most powerful man in boxing, but even his consultation won't necessarily move Mayweather unless the man with the perfect record decides it for himself, said Mayweather Promotions President Leonard Ellerbe.
Mayweather's adherence to retirement _ or at least in keeping everyone waiting on his return until he's ready to announce it on his terms and not with a camera in his face with 13,025 in the arena and hundreds of thousands from the pay-per-view watching _ was sold proudly by Ellerbe in Saturday's post-fight news conference.
Ellerbe said, "no," when asked if Pacquiao's showing in his first fight at age 40 proved convincing enough to compel Mayweather to return.
"He has nothing else to prove. I'm very happy for him. He's retired. He has no interest in doing that," Ellerbe said. "It's not always about the money, believe it or not. What more can the man do? He doesn't have the motivation, the desire.
"He's living his best life, traveling, running his multiple businesses, spending his hard-earned winnings. He'll be 42 come Feb. 24 and enough is enough.
"What good does it do to earn all that money if you can't hang around to spend it?"
Good points, all of which have been said and undone before when Mayweather feels the itch to cash in on a fight that begs for him.
Pacquiao's seven-time trainer of the year Freddie Roach, after returning to his fighter's corner following a one-fight absence, watched the way Pacquiao battered Broner in moments and completely defused the Cincinnati fighter's plan to win via counterpunching and said the senator from the Philippines is ready for Mayweather again.
"He looked great, fought very well," Roach said. "I have no idea if Floyd will come back, but I know Manny can fight a much better fight than the first time. I would like to get that one back. There are other people out there, but, yes _ of course _ (a Mayweather rematch) makes the most sense."
Pacquiao has said breaks in his Senate obligations will free him for a return fight in May or July this year.
Opposition such as World Boxing Association primary champion Keith Thurman, who fights Josesito Lopez on Saturday in New York, World Boxing Council champion Shawn Porter or former champion Danny Garcia are possible, but pale in significance.
"I will ask my promoters who's next and we will announce that in proper time," Pacquiao promised.
Broner, meanwhile, continued his disappointing descent from who he might've been. He stayed upright in the face of Pacquiao's considerable pressure, but accomplished little else besides a memorable post-fight line.
"They was hoping I'd come in here and get destroyed. That didn't happen. I will be champion again. I ain't got a mark on me," Broner said after earning a guaranteed $2.5 million plus pay-per-view profits from the assignment.
"I'm not going to sit here and be sad. I feel good. I still look good. It's time to cash checks and have sex."
Meanwhile, new WBA interim light-heavyweight champion Marcus Browne defeated former super-middleweight champion Badou Jack by decision after Jack was badly bloodied by suffering a forehead gash from a seventh-round accidental head butt.
"When I saw it open a little bit, I made sure I kept touching it and it became a big, bloody bath," said Browne, who wants to next meet the new WBC champion, Oleksandr Gvozdyk, while he awaits the winner of WBA champion Dmitry Bivol's March 9 meeting against Joe Smith Jr.
"I should've bet my whole safe on myself," Browne said. "I graduated from a contender to a champion, and I want to fight the best guys out there."
