A day after Floyd Mayweather Jr. used a video sharing website to go on a profanity-laced rant filled with racist and homophobic statements aimed at Manny Pacquiao, Mayweather apologized.

“I do want to apologize for what happened the other night,” Mayweather said. “I want to apologize to everybody because everybody felt it was a racist comment that came from me. I don’t have a racist bone in my body, you know.”

On Thursday, Mayweather took to the UStream site to launch a verbal assault on Pacquiao, the pound-for-pound king from the Philippines, whom Mayweather has refused to fight.

The rant, in which Mayweather also reasserted claims that Pacquiao uses performance-enhancing drugs, came while Pacquiao was in the midst of a three-city media tour to promote his Nov. 13 HBO PPV fight with Antonio Margarito at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The video created an immediate backlash against Mayweather, who took to UStream again Friday night to offer an apology near the end of an approximately 40-minute video, during which he is seen hanging out, apparently in his Las Vegas home, with members of his entourage.

After about a half hour of frivolous banter, Mayweather, seated at a table and looking into the camera, turned more serious, although he never apologized directly to Pacquiao.

“I love everybody,” Mayweather said. “Some of my guys are Muslim. Some of my guys are Jews. Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Mexicans, white, it doesn’t matter. There’s nothing but love in my heart, you know what I’m saying? So I heard this from a few people. The only thing I want to say is, if anybody who was affected by what I said the other day, I apologize as a man. I apologize.

“Forgive me for saying what I said. I was just having fun. I didn’t really mean it. Nothing in a bad way. So let’s stay on this roller-coaster ride and keep riding, baby. It’s all love.”

The Pacquiao and Mayweather camps have already had two rounds of failed negotiations for the fight that looms as the biggest money fight in boxing history. When the second round failed, Pacquiao signed to fight Margarito instead while Mayweather decided to remain on what he has called a year-long vacation following his win against Shane Mosley in May.

Mayweather also sent a message to Pacquiao’s legion of fans.

“To all the Manny Pacquiao fans, stand behind him, stand behind him,” Mayweather said. “Even one day when we meet up and I beat him, I want him to believe in his self and believe in his skills, and I want him to believe he’s going to win. Of course, he’s supposed to believe he’s going to win.”

In the original video, Mayweather shredded Pacquiao, whom he referred to as “Poochiao.”

“I’m on vacation for about a year, about a year,” Mayweather said Thursday. “As soon as we come off vacation, we’re going to cook that little yellow chump. We ain’t worried about that. So they ain’t gotta worry about me fighting the midget. Once I kick the midget ass, I don’t want you all to jump on my d—. So you all better get on the bandwagon now. … Once I stomp the midget, I’ll make that mother f—– make me a sushi roll and cook me some rice.”

Mayweather also said, ” ‘Poochiao’ got three losses and two draws and been knocked out twice. So, like I said before, once I beat him it’s going to be a cakewalk and it’s on to the next. … We know Pacquiao made $6 million in his last fight and Floyd Mayweather made $65 million in his last fight. Three losses, two draws. Ohhh, hell no, this is America baby. We built on winning. Step your game up, f—-t. … That mother f—– Pacquiao, he can’t speak no English. He never seen a contract he didn’t like. Mother f—– signed with two companies [Top Rank and Golden Boy]. Look it up. And then this mother f—— with Nike only got 70 Gs. How stupid can a mother f—– be? Reebok gave me a million dollars for three weeks. I wore Reebok s— for a week for a million dollars. … This mother f——‘s name is Emmanuel. He got a fake name, taking power pellets.”

Mayweather also broke out into a bizarre song in which he called Pacquiao a “whore” and added, “When we do come back, we’ll kick Poochiao’s ass. I’m gonna fight the Pacman when he gets off the power pellets.”

Besides apologizing for his remarks, Mayweather also offered his condolences to Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, whose eldest son, 49-year-old John Arum, was found dead Friday after an apparent hiking accident the North Cascades National Park outside of Seattle.

Arum, who promotes Pacquiao, promoted Mayweather for most of his career. But their relationship was often rancorous and has been especially bad in the years since their split. Their acrimonious relationship is considered one of the reasons why a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight has yet to be made.

“God bless Bob Arum and his whole family, because I heard that Bob Arum’s son had a bad accident,” Mayweather said. “So it’s all love to the whole Arum family. I wish you guys nothing but the best.”

By Dan Rafael
ESPN.com