LAS VEGAS — Floyd Mayweather Jr. may have boxed himself into a corner by outboxing Marcos Maidana in their rematch.

And it might open the door – if just a crack – for the fight with Manny Pacquiao that boxing fans have been craving for years.

“If the Pacquiao fight happens, it happens,” Mayweather said Saturday night after disposing of Maidana for the second time in four months. “You can ask the same questions and get the same answers. I call my own shots.”

That Mayweather is even acknowledging the possibility of a fight with Pacquiao is significant, since his previous stance had been to ignore his Filipino rival.

But it may be that Mayweather has little choice but to turn to Pacquiao for a huge money fight as the careers of both fighters draw to an end.

A lot of that will depend on the pay-per-view numbers for the second Maidana fight.

The first fight didn’t sell well – at least by the lofty standards of the pay-per-view king – and with the promotion for the second clouded by Mayweather’s comments on Ray Rice and domestic violence, the general feeling among boxing executives is that the rematch may have done even worse.

Add the fact that Mayweather didn’t win any fans by mostly playing defense against Maidana and it’s hard to see how that will change for his next bout, which likely will take place next May.

Mayweather’s most probable opponent for a fight in May would be Britain’s Amir Khan, who took himself out of contention for Saturday’s fight because he wouldn’t be able to train properly while observing Ramadan. But while Khan would help boost sales overseas, he has lost two of his last five fights and is not popular enough in the U.S. to help sell pay-per-view.

Mayweather’s continued refusal to fight Pacquiao or any other fighters promoted by Bob Arum limits the pool of possible opponents.