Bob Arum: The Maladies Of Pacquiao and Mayweather About To End
Bob Arum has breaking news for those anticipating the megabuck fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather: the ball is now in Mayweather’s court.
The Top Rank honcho has indeed confirmed that his promotional outfit and Team Pacquiao, together with Golden Boy Promotions have agreed on all negotiation points.
The only thing remaining, according to him, is Mayweather’s approval.
Apparently, the issues that have bogged down the initial negotiations have been ironed out, revenue split and random blood tests included.
This piece of news is enough to make any fan's blood curl. The fight of the century is close to being a reality.
But hold your horses—this is Floyd Mayweather we’re talking about. As of late, the former pound-for-pound king has been pretty silent about his future plans.
Shortly after his dominant win over the ageing Shane Mosley, Mayweather had hinted that he may again walk away from professional boxing for a year or two. And that, unfortunately, may spell doom for the proposed Pacquiao-Mayweather bout.
And if there’s one thing we’ve learned, never burst the bubble of ol’ Bob Arum.
Arum has made it clear that it all depends on whether Mayweather will sign the contract and be ready to fight by November or whether he would want to take a break first and fight next year.
But Arum also has his fears that Mayweather wouldn’t want to fight Pacquiao at all.
This time around, the public has been kept out of the negotiations, with Bob Arum and Golden Boy’s Richard Schaefer wheeling and dealing behind closed doors.
Aside from the mini-leaks that happened a few weeks back, reports from both camps say that everything is going according to plan.
If you will remember, a few individuals from both the Pacquiao and Mayweather camps have reportedly broken the gag order imposed by both Arum and Schaefer.
Fortunately for those involved in the negotiations, none of the loose-lipped individuals pre-empted the talks.
Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz has indeed confirmed that his client "had agreed on the negotiating points," and is expected to sign the contract when everything has been finalized.
However, Koncz was quick to add that "if nothing is signed within the next few weeks" Pacquiao might be forced to look at other options.
A couple of options that the Pacquiao camp are looking at include the resurgent Miguel Cotto and the come-back Antonio Margarito. If Pacquaio chooses to fight Cotto, then the latter may take the light middleweight title.
A Margarito clash, on the other hand, presents a fight for Pacquiao’s WBO Welterweight title which had previously belonged to Margarito.
The Mexican has been salivating at a chance to prove his mettle against the Filipino. However, a Pacquiao-Margarito fight would be a bit harder to make given the Mexican’s difficulties in obtaining a license to fight in the US after he was suspended for one year by the California commission.
Both fights present lucrative opportunities for the Filipino phenomena. While Pacquiao hasn’t set a definite deadline for Mayweather to ink a contract, his adviser revealed that Pacquiao isn’t keen to wait too much longer.
But first things first—Bob Arum’s first priority will be to deliver the Mayweather contract to Pacquiao. If all is well, as reported, then it will be Schaefer’s turn to sweet-talk Mayweather into signing the contract.
This is great news for boxing fans everywhere. We’re a step closer to one of the biggest fights in boxing history. The fighters’ signatures are all that is needed.
With everything agreed on papers by both camps, it’s time for somebody to sign the contract. Mayweather have been taking too much since Pacquiao’s rise to the top of boxing pyramid. Mayweather – just sign the contracts.
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