Pacquiao vs Mayweather Fight Rumors and News: Mayweather and Basketball in Pacquiao's Mind Ahead of Algieri Fight

Three weeks before his fight with unbeaten American challenger Chris Algieri, Manny Pacquiao is already thinking of a possible megabuck showdown with Floyd Mayweather and his return to the hard court as the playing head coach of one of the teams in the Philippine professional basketball league.

In an interview with the Philippine Star in General Santos City, Philippines, where he is currently training for the Nov. 23 Algieri fight in Macau, China, Pacquiao tried to shy away from answering a question on whether the highly anticipated bout with Mayweather is in the works. "I don't want to bring up Floyd's name because he might think I'm using him to market my fight against Algieri," the eight-time Filipino world boxing champion said.

But he hinted that such a fight is in the drawing board. "After the Algieri fight, then we can talk about Floyd or any other fighter," Pacquiao said. "At the moment, my main and only focus is Algieri."

The fighting Filipino congressman also disclosed that the day after his fight with Algieri, he intends to fly back to the Philippines to resume his new career in professional basketball. "On Monday night [after the Sunday bout with Algieri], I want to go back to the gym, this time to play basketball," Pacquiao said. "I'm excited to play in the PBA [Philippine Basketball Association].

Pacquiao also revealed that even while he's training for the Algieri fight, he remains in contact with his Kia Sorento basketball team through telephone. "I'm watching on TV in GenSan and I'm telling the coaches whom to bring in and bring out, what plays to call," he said.

Pacquiao has so far played only one game in the PBA in a match watched by more than 52,000 fans at the newly built Philippine Arena, considered as the world's largest indoor arena. His team won that match, 80-66, against another new team, the Blackwater Elite, last Oct. 19. However, the boxing champion did not score a single point and committed two turnovers in just 6:46 minutes on the floor.

Pacquiao said he deliberately played tentatively and sparingly because he did not want to risk injury ahead of his fight with Algieri.

But after the Macau fight, Pacquiao promised to show fans that they will see the kind of "rough basketball" that he enjoys playing.

On the Algieri fight, Pacquiao declined to predict a knockout victory Algieri in their scheduled 12-round title bout at the Cotai Arena in the Venetian Resort Macau on Nov. 23. But he said he's going all out for a convincing win.

The 5'10" Algieri enjoys a height advantage over the 5'6" Pacquiao. The undefeated young American boxer also enjoys a three-and-a-half-inch reach advantage over the Filipino champion.

Pacquiao admitted that Algieri is his toughest opponent to date. "Chris Algieri poses many puzzles for me to solve. In terms of his height and reach, only Antonio Margarito surpasses him in the scope of opponents I have faced," Pacquiao told ESPN.com. "Algieri is also the most scientific, fluid and fittest fighter I have ever opposed. All of those factors, plus he is five years younger than me, make him the most dangerous opponent of my career," he added.