by David P. Greisman

Many expected Manny Pacquiao’s retirement would be short-lived, and it was, as he will return from an April victory over Timothy Bradley to fight Jessie Vargas in September. Many expect Floyd Mayweather Jr. will return soon as well, having hung up his gloves following a victory over Andre Berto a year ago.

The talk since Mayweather beat Pacquiao the first time was that there would be another one, that the fighters wouldn’t be able to resist making even a fraction of the mega-millions they made in May 2015.

“I believe it’s a possibility,” said longtime boxing analyst and broadcaster Larry Merchant. “That fight was such an amazing event and just as amazing a bust in the ring, that you know that the businesspeople will try to bring it back, because if it does a third of the business, it will still be a big event.”

But he isn’t happy about it.

“I’m depressed about it,” he said. “Because it was the anticlimax of the century, and it’s not likely to be any better.”

That wasn’t surprising to Merchant, who like many who followed Mayweather’s career knew that he is exceptional at using his skills and speed on defense to shut down his opponents.

“I think people in boxing knew that Mayweather, in his calculation of risk and reward, does not tend to go toward risk, and that he was going to try to outbox Manny,” Merchant said.

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com