Floyd Mayweather Jr has challenged Manny Pacquiao to “step up to the plate” and face him in what would be the defining fight of both their careers.

The mega-money fight would settle once and for all the debate as to who is the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in boxing, but Mayweather maintained the new WBO welterweight champion is “one-dimensional”.

Pacquiao cemented his claim to the greatest fighter in contemporary boxing when he stopped Miguel Cotto in the 12th round for the title and the Filipino’s trainer Freddie Roach wasted no time in putting Mayweather in his sights.

American Mayweather told Sky Sports he recognised weaknesses in Pacquiao’s performance: “"The thing is with Pacquiao I don't see any versatility as a fighter; he's a good puncher but just one-dimensional."

“Money” Mayweather claims he would receive little credit for beating the Filipino superstar because he is expected to win.

"I'm in a no-win situation. If I beat Manny Pacquiao do you know what they are going to say? 'You are supposed to beat him, you are Floyd Mayweather, you are the bigger man'. If I knock him out they'll say 'you're supposed to knock him out he's been knocked out before'.
 
"I'm in a no-win situation and when I beat him no one is going to be surprised because he's been beaten before. Whatever I do to Pacquiao has been done before, he's been beaten on three occasions. And if I knock him out I don't want the world shouting because he's been knocked out twice before.

"The world's going to go 'wow' if Floyd Mayweather gets beaten. That's what everyone is looking to see."

Mayweather thinks Pacquiao was evasive when asked about a showdown with the undefeated American, who returned from retirement to out-point Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez.

"When they asked Manny Pacquiao 'would you like to fight Floyd Mayweather' he said talk to my promoter. They didn't ask your promoter they asked you, what do you want to do?

"Manny Pacquiao was asked the same question 'do you want to fight Floyd Mayweather' three times. This is something the world is trying to force on him. If he wants to fight Floyd Mayweather all he has to do is step up to the plate."