Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is willing to entertain offers to get back in the ring. The problem is, his idea of an acceptable offer is not in the same ballpark as the offers that are realistic.

It’s kind of a good news/bad news situation for boxing.

Good news that Mayweather is willing to entertain offers to return to the ring.

Bad news that he is so far off on the money issues that seeing him in the ring again is unlikely — until he drops his price.

Mayweather reportedly is looking for a $20 million guarantee to fight either Manny Pacquiao or Shane Mosley, a figure that Top Rank’s Bob Arum said was just unrealistic and out of line.

“Look, Golden Boy went to Mayweather about fighting Shane Mosley and he wanted a $20-million guarantee.”

…

“He is so bleeping way out of line that it is ridiculous. Nobody and no fight, against Manny or anyone else, is going to get him $20-million guarantee.”

…

“Could he work hard and earn $20 million if a fight with Manny did well, yeah, that is possible. But nobody is going to give Mayweather [the chance] to fight Pacquiao, Mosley or Jesus Christ.

“So is it possible that Mayweather will come back? I say yes, but his expectations and aspirations are just too unreasonable.”

Perhaps the problem that Mayweather is having, like Pacquiao had before him, is understanding that skill isn’t what sells. All of the fights that could make that kind of money involve either Oscar De La Hoya or Ricky Hatton. With back-to-back fights against them both, Mayweather likely believes that he can earn similar paychecks against anyone.

The fact is, Mayweather was never a big seller prior to the Oscar fight. Pacquiao’s big PPV was against Oscar. Mayweather’s fight with Hatton was huge worldwide.

A fight between Mayweather and Hatton would do huge business, but no one can guarantee it, since neither one has proven they can carry a promotion by themselves. The fight would be a huge hit with boxing fans, and huge in the Philippines, but neither of those means huge money.

If Mayweather were serious about wanting to fight either fighter, he’d be willing to take more money on the back-end and promote the shit out of the fight to guarantee its financial success. But like Arum said, the guarantee of $20 million is unrealistic.

The bottom line in all of this is that yes, Mayweather is willing to comeback — but at what price? Boxing would like to see Floyd Mayweather in the ring again, but if you can’t name his price for Pacquiao — the biggest fight out there — are you ever going to be able to?