Appearing in a popular sports talk show in the United States before his press conference with Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao threw a lot of fighting words against the undefeated American, his opponent in their super fight scheduled roughly seven weeks away. One of the show’s hosts, Stephen A. Smith, interpreted Pacquiao’s words as “insults” to Mayweather Jr. albeit the Filipino was in a light mood and even laughing while firing the shots at Mayweather.

Interviewed by Smith and two other hosts/analysts of ESPN’s First Take, Cari Champion and Skip Bayless, Pacquiao did not mince any words against Mayweather saying that the American is “afraid of losing” that’s why it took four-five years to make the fight happen; that he’s more worried when he faced Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito than facing Mayweather Jr. in May; and that beating Mayweather Jr. will be “good for boxing”.

A shell-shocked Smith had to repeat some of the questions to Pacquiao to make sure he got the answers correctly and Pacquiao kept repeating the same answers, most of which can be considered as a slight to Mayweather Jr. When pressed about the super fight and his opponent, Pacquiao did not want to divulge too much details but spoke of what he thinks as his advantage over Mayweather.

“This one thing, Floyd has a good hand speed but his foot [speed] is not the same as that of his hand speed. I have a quick hand speed and good footwork; so it’s a combination. That’s one of my advantages [over Mayweather].” Pacquiao said.

When asked about Mayweather Jr.’s punching power, Pacquiao sort of shrugged off the question and said that guys like Cotto and Margarito packed more in their punches. Pacquiao admitted in the middle of the interview that Mayweather is a good defensive boxer but said that he has a plan on how to penetrate Mayweather’s defence.

Watch the full interview of Pacquiao on ESPN First Take below:

(YouTube/ESPN First Take)

Since meeting in a basketball game and a hotel in Miami in January, Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao met again on Wednesday, this time in a more formal setting for their lone press conference held in Los Angeles. Unlike the Pacquiao interview on ESPN and “trash talk” months before the deal was finalised, both fighters showed mutual respect to each other and were rather subdued during the presser.

The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight is set on May 2, 2015 to be held at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada in what many boxing enthusiasts dub as the "Fight of the Century".

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