Healthy Manny Pacquiao wants Floyd Mayweather rematch in 2016, believes he won first fight

There's a comic I read that had an interesting take on the psychology of losing.

We, as fans, idolize the humble fighter, the one who has no excuses for a loss. We respect the competitor who can shoulder his/her defeats and grow from them.

At the same time, the mindset of "I beat him nine times out of 10" or "she just caught me" is necessary. A fighter needs a certain level of machismo, however delusional, to stand up to the monstrous opponents they frequently run into at the world level.

I respect that theory, but this is pushing it a bit.

Now recovered from shoulder surgery, Filipino sensation Manny Pacquiao wants a rematch with Floyd Mayweather, who defeated him earlier this year by unanimous decision.

This, by itself, is to be expected. What's a little more puzzling is that Manny still believes he won their first fight.

"He was running away all the time," Pacquiao told Fight News (via Low Kick). "I was making the fight by stalking him and believe that I deserved a victory."

While the experts at the Leonard Garcia School o' Biffing may agree with Pacquiao, being aggressive while getting punched in the face doesn't win you a fight.

If you recall, the first six rounds were fairly even, with several Pacquiao flurries hitting home. Past there, however, it was all "Money," whose footwork prevented the heavy-handed star from pinning him to the ropes. Admittedly, Pacquiao did seem to be struggling with an injured right shoulder, which allowed Floyd to continually circle to that direction with impunity.

Anyway, "The Fighting Congressman" has it all planned out: congressman for the rest of the year, fighter in 2016.

"I’d like to concentrate my efforts on working as a politician this year, and want to fight Mayweather in a rematch," he continued. "I’ll be ready for that mentally and physically next year. I’ll show a better performance against him than in the first encounter."

Good luck.

Of course, all this talk is for naught if Floyd's upcoming fight against Andre Berto is, indeed, his last. Manny's promoter, Bob Arum, floated the idea of Pacquiao facing former training partner Amir Khan instead.

No mater what winds up going down, we here at MMAmania.com will keep you posted.