Arum says Mayweather 'just babbling'

Top Rank, Inc. head honcho Bob Arum, the promoter of Filipino boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao, has shrugged off reports that undefeated American Floyd Mayweather Jr. was planning to go into retirement again.

Arum said he is not taking the reports seriously since most people believe Mayweather "was just babbling."

The Top Rank big boss also inferred that maybe Mayweather was jealous of the attention Pacquiao was getting after he received the Fighter of Decade Award from the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA).

Arum and Mayweather's representative, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, are believed to be negotiating once more for the botched showdown between Mayweather and Pacquiao.

The two boxing promotions company officials, however, refused to speak publicly as to how the proposed November 13 fight is coming along.

Arum and Pacquiao are currently in New York while Mayweather is in Las Vegas.

Temporary breaks

Mayweather earlier said in a video posted on YouTube that he would be taking a two-year break from boxing.

"I'm taking a couple years off... away from the sport of boxing. I want to devote my time to my boxing gym," he said.

But he did not say if he would take a break before or after the possible Pacquiao bout.

Mayweather went into temporary retirement after defeating British Ricky Hatton on Dec. 8, 2007, only to come back to defeat Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez on Sept. 19, 2009.

He then saw off compatriot Shane Mosley last May 1. Pacquiao, for his part, defended his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title against Ghanaian Joshua Clottey last March 13.

Some say taking a temporary break from the sport is Mayweather's way of raking in more money, as promoters raise their cash offers to lure him out of his announced retirement.