Manny Pacquiao’s victory over Timothy Bradley Jr. was his last contractual fight under Top Rank and Bob Arum. Manny’s free agent status fuelled rumors of a possible Mayweather Jr. fight but those rumors may soon be squashed.
According to Dan Rafeal of ESPN.com Pacquiao and Arum are in negotiations for a 2 year/5 fight deal which would carry Manny through to the end of his career.
Bob Arum had this to say about the negotiations:
“Yes, we are talking about the extension,” Arum told ESPN.com. “We are working it out. We are talking about a lot of things. How many fights would be in Macau, how many would be in the United States, how many in other places. But we are talking about five fights.”
Manny would end almost any chance of him fighting Floyd Mayweather by signing this 5 year extension with Arum. Michael Koncz, Pacquiao’s advisor, had this to say about the possibility of a Mayweather fight:
“I don’t believe Floyd not fighting us has to do with Bob,” Koncz said. “Why did he wait until he exhausted all other excuses before saying he wouldn’t fight Manny if Bob was involved? First he brought up the drug testing [during the initial 2009 failed negotiations]. Then he wanted Manny to sign with him. Then he wanted to pay Manny only a flat fee of $40 million for the fight instead of sharing a percentage [of the revenue], and now he can’t fight Manny because Bob would be involved?
“Why did he wait so long to bring that up? If that’s true, why not use that excuse a few years ago?”
Seems like the question of “Who’s the better fighter, Mayweather or Pacquiao?” will remain unanswered and it’s not because the fighters were unwilling but because their management acted childishly.