Floyd Mayweather Jr. appears to be singing a different tune these days. About a week after asking fight fans to stop bashing Ronda Rousey after her loss to Holly Holm, the undefeated American is now complimenting rival Manny Pacquiao as he warned Terence Crawford, a probable opponent for the Filipino pugilist next year, on the dangers of fighting Pacquiao.

"The [expletive] can fight. He's a lot better than what I thought he was. From me being in the ring with Manny Pacquiao, I take my hat off to him and I can see why he went so far in his career. Terence Crawford [got to] realize that Pacquiao is bigger and stronger than Yuriorkis Gamboa, and he hits harder," Mayweather Jr. said via FightHype.com.

This was perhaps the first time Mayweather Jr. acknowledged the skills of Pacquiao on top of the ring after their fight last May when the American defeated the Filipino via a 12-round unanimous decision victory to the tune of 116-112, 116-112 and 118-110.

The always-controversial Mayweather had some public spat with Rousey on social media and interviews in the past but took the high road when the American chose not to criticise Rousey after her embarrassing defeat to Holm two weeks ago.

Mayweather Jr. has recently retired from the sport after his fight against Andre Berto last September. The 28-year-old Crawford defeated Gamboa via 9th round technical knockout win in June of 2014.

Crawford (27-0-0, 19 knockouts), who currently holds the World Boxing Organization (WBO) super lightweight belt, is looking for his first big payday in his career and a big name fighter like Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 knockouts) can introduce him to the mainstream along with a probable career-high earning in fighting the Filipino.

However, Pacquiao has yet to announce his decision on whom to fight next year although the date and location are tentatively set on April 9, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A. Along with Crawford, others being considered as Pacquiao opponent next year are American Timothy Bradley Jr. (31-1-1, 13 knockouts) and British Amir Khan (31-3-0, 19 knockouts).

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