Margarito Profits from Pacquiao – Mayweather Failings
After months of failed negotiations, Manny Pacquiao and his team have decided to forego their long anticipated fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and turn their attention to Antonio Margarito.
The two will square off on November 13th, Top Rank head Bob Arum told The Associated Press over the weekend. At the time of scheduling, the location of the bout was undetermined, mainly because Margarito is currently prohibited from fighting in the United States. Bob Arum is moving things along anyway, stating “we'll finalize everything this week.”
In the haze of negotiations with Mayweather a few contestants were considered as replacements, but ultimately Margarito beat out Miguel Cotto because Pacquiao has already defeated Cotto once. The fight between Margarito and Pacquiao will likely be for the WBC super welterweight title which was vacated by Sergio Martinez earlier this year.
A victory for Pacquiao would register titles in a record-breaking eight weight classes.
Discussing the prospects of the fight, Bob Arum said: “Antonio is so much bigger than he is, it’s a very attractive fight. Cotto, we figure, should have another fight this winter and shown the improvement he’s made under (new trainer) Emanuel Steward and then we could look at him maybe next year.”
The fight was arranged soon after Mayweather failed to respond to a deadline offer to fight Pacquiao, initiated by Arum, Pacquiao's promoter. Two days after the deadline, Mayweather told Associated press he isn't currently concerned with stepping into the ring at all, following his demolishing of Shane Mosley in May.
“I’m not interested in rushing to do anything,” Mayweather said with the usual swagger.
Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather's advisor, issued a statement Monday that no negotiations with Arum had taken place. The statement caught Arum by surprise.
The Top Rank chief insists that he has been negotiating for what could be the highest revenue-earning fight ever for months. Arum qualified that he had been using HBO Sports chief Ross Greenburg as an intermediary with Mayweather's camp, and that all that remained was that Mayweather sign for the bout.
Greenburg remained mum on the negotiations.
“The thing that’s silly about this is all Floyd had to say from the get-go was, ‘Hey, I’m not interested in fighting this year. That’s all he had to do,” Arum complained.
In recent months Arum has come off as the instigator, and Mayweather and his camp have appeared disinterested in the possibility of a super fight. Mayweather's lack of enthusiasm suggests he feels satisfied with his current status in the boxing world. He is ranked No. 2 in the world by Ring Magazine, while Manny Pacquiao remains No. 1.
Perhaps unjustly, the unexpected winner in the imbroglio is Margarito, who earned a solid reputation in boxing after he defeated Miguel Cotto. Margarito became the face of controversy after it was discovered he had loaded hand wraps in a bout with Mosley. As a result his boxing license was revoked.
The fact that the California State Athletic Commission has suspended Margarito's license creates some problems for Pacquiao. Arum has stated that he wants to hold the fight in Las Vegas, in order to exempt his fighter from income taxes. But it would entail Margarito obtaining a license in Nevada, a state he applied unsuccessfully to earlier this month. The state athletic commission demanded he get authorization from California first.
“In Nevada, he’s asked for them to consider giving him a conditional license to fight on Nov. 13. He’s also going to file his application for his license in California,” Arum clarified.
“There are other states that have contacted us that say they’ll give him a license.”
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