I am surprised at the amount of media who doesn’t seem to understand how things work in Boxing. I have several basically say that Mayweather vs. Pacquiao is a done deal.
That is the farthest thing from the truth.
What Mayweather did was make a preemptive strike in taking control of the negotiations for a potential Pacquiao fight, but that was all it was. Just because the Money Team said they want Pacquiao doesn’t mean we should all be ready to hop on Southwest Airlines to Vegas. As I predicted Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum quickly crushed any optimism on a fight being close to being done.
“Listen, we’re not going to consider anything until after the Marquez fight,” Arum said. “The way they are going about it seems like a bizarre way to go about it. If you want to put it together, you meet, you talk. You don’t just come out and say, ‘The fight is May 5 at the MGM.’ What kind of negotiation is that? So I don’t take what they said seriously.
“I think it’s Floyd’s way of trying to grab a little bit of the spotlight away from Manny. I’m not going to get upset. I take it with a grain of salt.”
“I’m not bent out of shape at all,” he said. “For me it’s sort of funny, amusing. It’s noise and it probably helps my Pacquiao-Marquez event. I’m happy with it. It’s out there. But it’s a joke. You don’t negotiate this way. The reason I don’t take it seriously is why make an announcement now? Why now? How do you justify it? What’s the hurry?
“Either they’re just amateurs and not thinking or they thought I would go ballistic. There is some Mickey Mouse agenda. And of course (Golden Boy promoter Richard) Schaefer (whom Mayweather hires to promote his fights) is just a tool. He does what they ask him to do. This isn’t Schaefer thinking it out. He is doing what he is told. They had some kind of reason to do this. Floyd was getting pissed off with all the attention Manny is getting.”
Don’t be fooled Arum is upset even if he is trying to play it cool.
As I have been saying for months, this is more about Mayweather and Arum than Mayweather and Pacquiao. Mayweather is simply not going to allow Arum to have any power over negotiations and Arum is not going to let Mayweather dictate terms.
So if you book your flight and hotel hoping for Mayweather vs. Pacquiao make sure everything is refundable.