Just as quickly as Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s direct overture to Manny Pacquiao brought a glimmer of hope that boxing’s top two attractions would finally fight came the cold reality. The three-year tease continues, and don’t expect Mayweather and Pacquiao in the ring any time soon.

Mayweather confirmed he had a telephone conversation with Pacquiao last week. Reports immediately circulated that the phone call could have planted the seeds for the possible mega-fight.

Mayweather has reserved May 5 against a yet-to-be determined opponent and sought to fill the empty docket.

But the boxing public likely will need to keep dreaming. Mayweather’s first public response after his talk with Pacquiao indicated that the bout will likely remain on ice.

While the hang-up to previous attempts at securing the fight centered on Mayweather’s demands that Pacquiao submit to pre- and post-fight Olympic drug testing, the stumbling block now has shifted to purse earnings.

Mayweather told ESPN that for the fight to happen his purse should exceed the 50-50 split Pacquiao suggested.

That Mayweather now seems to have warmed to a fight with Pacquiao differs from the past three years when he has also said a bout against the Philippines native is not needed to validate his spotless 42-fight professional record.

Perhaps Pacquiao’s recent performance in his third fight against Juan Manuel Marquez in November might have changed Mayweather’s attitude toward a match with Pacquiao. For the first time since his second bout with Marquez in 2008, Pacquiao looked vulnerable as he escaped with a majority decision. Mayweather won a lopsided decision against Marquez in 2009.

The fallout from last week’s conversation still leaves Mayweather’s and Pacquiao’s next fight dates without opponents. Mayweather proudly claims he can carry any pay-per-view telecast regardless the rival. The immediate name circulating as a possible Mayweather foe is current junior-middleweight champion Miguel Cotto.

With Mayweather’s purse demands probably sending the Pacquiao match to its familiar illusion, Pacquiao will have such options. Before the brief flirtation last week, Pacquiao, who plans to fight again in June, has among rumored options a fourth fight with Marquez or a rematch against Cotto. Pacquiao stopped Cotto in 12 rounds in 2009.

Champ Rigondeaux

Miami resident Guillermo Rigondeaux and former heavyweight champion Leon Spinks now have something in common. Both are Olympic gold medalists who won world titles before their 10th professional fights.

Rigondeaux joined Spinks in the exclusive category after his sixth-round knockout of Rico Ramos late Friday in Las Vegas. The victory earned Rigondeaux (9-0, 7 KOs) the World Boxing Association super-bantamweight title.

Rigondeaux set the tone to his win when he dropped Ramos with a left to the head in the first round and scored a second knockdown with a fight-finishing left to the body in the sixth. Ramos (20-1) could not beat the 10 count and the fight ended at 1:29 of the round.

Muhammad Ali

Women’s hopefuls

The three boxers who will represent the first U.S. women’s Olympic boxing team will be determined during the Olympic trials Feb. 13-19 in Airway Heights, Wash.

The trials will feature 24 boxers participating in the 112-, 132- and 165-pound weight classes. The winner of each weight class will compete in the 2012 Olympics in London.

Lehigh resident Tiara Brown is Florida’s only participant in the trials. Brown will box in the 132- pound lightweight class.