Negotiations for the mega-bout between Floyd "Money" Mayweather and Manny "Pac-Man" Pacquiao have been ongoing, with Golden Boy promotions' Richard Schaefer and Top Rank's Bob Arum representing each of the fighters considered pound-for-pound boxing's best, according to a source close to the process.
Arum is on vacation in Aspen, Colorado, and Schaefer also is on vacation.
However, their talks are slated to continue "on Monday at the earliest, and nothing is going to move any needle until then," the source said.
HBO has proposed a date of May 1 for the fight, which has not yet been discussed with Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 knockouts).
Although several sites have been broached, the bout is a natural for Las Vegas, where Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports reports that construction of a 30,000-seat, outdoor stadium is being considered.
Pacquiao, 30, is coming off of a historic beat-down of Miguel Cotto (34-2, 27 KOs) on Nov. 14, a 12th-round knockout which earned him the WBO welterweight (147 pounds) title -- his record seventh crown in as many weight classes.
The 32-year-old Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) was last in the ring on Sept. 19, when he scored a lopsided, unanimous decision over Mexican great Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KOs).
Marquez has drawn with and lost to Pacquiao, whom Marquez still believes that he has twice beaten in disputed bouts. Mayweather was Fighter Of The Year in 2007, and Pacquiao Fighter Of The Year in 2008.
They are, without a doubt, boxing's two biggest draws.
"This fight is huge, and I don't know if the sky is the limit," said HBO sports programming head honcho, Ross Greenburg. "This is on the Super Bowl level, and it should be treated that way. We have to do it the right way and take it to another level."
Pacquiao-Cotto drew 1.25 million pay-per-view buys, the highest-performing boxing pay-per-view event in 2009, and "the biggest event of the year for pay-per-view from the standpoint of revenue generated," according to Arum.
Pacquiao-Cotto produced $70 million in pay-per-view revenue, a figure that included 650,000 purchases from cable homes, another 600,000 from satellite and telephone company services, and a record 110,000 from Cotto's native Puerto Rico alone.
Pacquiao-De La Hoya also generated 1.25 million buys, and Pacquiao-Hatton 830,000.
Mayweather-De La Hoya sold a record 2.4 million, Mayweather-Marquez, 1.05 million, and Mayweather-Hatton, 920,000.
In addition to Marquez, Mayweather and Pacquiao have two other notable common opponents in Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton -- each of whom they defeated in back-to-back contests.
In May and December of 2007, Mayweather earned a split-decision over De La Hoya, and stopped Hatton in the 10th round.
Then, in December 2008 and May 2009, Pacquiao stopped De La Hoya and Hatton in the eighth and second rounds, respectively.
Mayweather contends that his victories were more impressive over all three of their common opponents, and argues that he dominated Marquez who twice fought tooth-and-nail with Pacquiao.
Also, Mayweather believes that Hatton, who lost for the first time in 44 bouts against him, was not the same against Pacquiao after being stopped for the first time in his career.
In addition, Mayweather believes that Hatton, then trained by his father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., was being transitioned from a brawling style to that of a boxing style, and, thus, a somewhat confused fighter who could not successfully execute his dad's gameplan.
De La Hoya, said Mayweather, fought him at a more natural weight of 154 pounds, while he "was a dead man" after struggling to make 145 pounds against Pacquiao.
De La Hoya told FanHouse that he agreed with Mayweather, saying, "I lost the fight" with Pacquiao before getting into the ring.
Pacquiao supporters say that the Filipino star was simply more impressive in his victories over De La Hoya and Hatton, and that Marquez -- who had not fought above 135 pounds before facing Mayweather -- was simply too small against Mayweather.
Since losing a unanimous decision to Erik Morales in March 2005, Pacquiao is 11-0, with eight knockouts, including four consecutive stoppages against David Diaz, De La Hoya, Hatton and Cotto.
That run includes having twice avenged the loss to Morales by 10th-, and, third-round knockouts, respectively, in January and November 2006.
Arum, who once promoted both De La Hoya and Mayweather, has called Pacquiao "the best fighter that I've ever seen -- and that includes Muhammad Ali, and Sugar Ray Leonard, and Marvin Hagler."
The name of Mayweather was chanted as the man desired as Pacquiao's next opponent by the crowd of more than 16,200 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas in the aftermath of Pacquiao's victory over Cotto.
But Mayweather insists that he has not heard Pacquiao personally call him out."They are all talking for him, but Manny Pacquiao has yet to say he wants to fight me. If he wants to fight me, all he has to do is step up to the plate," said Mayweather, in a statement issued by his media company.
"Manny Pacquiao is the fighter, and every time someone asks him if he wants to fight me, he says it is up to his promoter, or he's going to take a vacation, or whatever the answer is," said Mayweather.
"I have yet to hear him actually say, 'yes I want to fight Mayweather,'" said Mayweather. "We are the fighters, and if one fighter is talking about fighting another fighter, then they should just come out and say it."
As for Mayweather's assertion that Pacquaio has never called him out, FanHouse.com scoured its files and found this quote published in April of 2009 -- nearly a month before Pacquiao stopped Hatton and prior to Mayweather's officially announced return to the ring to face Marquez.
"I think [Mayweather] is going to fight again. He's not really retired," Pacquiao told Michael David Smith.
"For me, if I'm Floyd, I would fight a tune-up and then fight me," said Pacquiao. "That's for me, but I don't know what his plan is. He might want to fight me right away."
Pacquiao may not have come right out and said, "I want to fight Floyd Mayweather," but what he did say was pretty close -- wasn't it?
Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Pac-man is beast!!
Go wanderlei
Mayweather is going to price himself out of this fight and then fight an unknown fighter. He is going to play the vulture who waits for his opponent to be on the downside of their careers.
THIS WILL BE THE BIGGEST FIGHT OF THIS NEW CENTURY !!! MAYWEATHER VS. PACQUIAO WILL BE A WORLDWIDE EVENT THAT WILL BE REMEMBERED FOR AGES!!! IT WOULD BE LIKE THE "THRILLER IN MANILA." WOULDN'T IT BE GRAND IF THEY ACTUALLY FOUGHT IN MANILA AND CALLED IT THE "THRILLER IN MANILA PART 2"?
Heck, that makes alot of sence. can you see Manila go crazy with there hero fighting the American pound for pound best?? You made me start thinking just how geart that would be.
Mayweather does not have Cotto on his resume. Just a bunch of handpicked less-threat fighters. Gayweather, the end is near. Manny is breathing down your neck as we speak.
You better go back and scour the list of fighters Mayweather has fought. Theres some pretty big names there. Emanuel Augustus, Diego Corrales, Jose Luis Castillo(twice), DeMarcus Corley, Arturo Gatti,Sharmba Mitchell, Zab Judah, Carlos Baldomir, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez. If you don't know them, you don't know boxing.
As for Pac man, I think he's good but WAY OVER RATED. Go look at Manny's record, the majority of his wins are over people from the Philippines and the big names he did conquer were on the verge of retirement. Morales, Barrera, Marquez, Delahoya was way too dehydrated to put up a fight, Hatton was a mess and already solved by Mayweather, Cotto is tough and showed that by beating Pac early but he is no longer mentally there as the beating he took from Margarito messed his head and confidence up. Also to my knowledge Manny has never faced anyone with real speed, something Mayweather obviously has.
This Mayweather really talks too much. He has a huge ego. He says he is no.1, has a more impressive fight record than Manny, and Manny has not called him out. Manny Pacquiao does his talking inside the ring. It is not important who challenges whom. Anyone of the two can initiate it. Mayweather, by insisting on his rule that Manny calls him out first, is hoping to avoid a fight with Manny if the latter fails to do so. He is obviously afraid and unlikely simply angling for a leverage in future negotiations. As if it is not enough that Pacquiao said these three statements in recent past in reference to Mayweather Jr: Mayweather needs a tune up before he fights Manny; Mayweather does not want to fight him and he is more concerned with the business aspect in choosing opponents; Yes (in an interview in a radio station replying to a question if he wants to fight Floyd).
Although Floyd fought de la hoya and Hatton first, it is unclear if he did enough damage to render them substantially diminished. De la Hoya seems to have won their match which could have been clearer to the judges if Floyd stopped running and faced him more courageously. Be that as it may, Manny's victories were far more emphatic, undisputable, entertaining and done courageously. As far as Marquez is concerned, many writers have voiced their opinion contradicting Floyd's assertions. They say that Manny first fought Marquez when he was basically a left-handed fighter with less skill. In the second fight, he was having a hard time going down to the stipulated weight. However he dished out four knockdowns to Marquez who was not able to do the same even with a single knockdown on Manny. In boxing, to cause a knockdown is not an easy matter, that is why Marquez failed to do it. If the three knockdown rule was in effect in game one, Marquez could have lost very clearly and there should have been no cause for his childish whining. When Mayweather fought Marquez, he made sure to have all the advantages- Marquez bulked up from 130 to 144 pounds and in the process lost his power and speed, and cheated him by coming in two pounds above the agreed upon catch weight.
Time has come to stop the blabber. All Floyd has to do is allow the negotiation to progress normally and refrain from making impossible demands. This is now your chance to build a better image. As for Pac, this will usher you to top ten all time great.
I don't know. I think manny is too small for floyd but if he beats floyd it will prove how superior he really is. Floyd got a split decision with oscar, and he's a great defensive fighter but he doesn't like pressure. I wouldn't compare marquez to manny because he is a real counter puncher not a pressure guy. Floyd could run away the whole time but in a dogfight manny would kill him. But then flyd never gets in a dogfight does he?
yeah and as for marquez, I watched those two fights again and don't think he won either in spite of the fact he is a great fighter. Points are points and he could not overcome the knockdowns.
@ boxer 129
Don't let Floyd's undefeated record fool you. Pacquiao would've been undefeated if he had the proper training that Floyd had when he was younger. Baldomir? Zab Judah? I remember that Baldmomir fight, Floyd was booed for running and refusing to fight in the 12th round. Manny would put those two to sleep in under five rounds. Talk to me when Floyd beats the guys he should be fighting ( Mosley, Cotto, Margarito , Williams ), not the scrubs you mentioned.
I think it will be a dull fight with Mayweather staying in the cacoon position.Shoulders closed.. chin tucked.He will not open up and allow Pacquiao the angles.The Pacman gets his power from the foward movement that he thrust with his punches and angles in the open ring.Mayweather will try to sneak punches out of the enclosed position to score but they will not have power to harm the Pacman.This will end up going to the scorecards.I cannot predict the winner.I will be the Pacman that will force the fight.
i agree, like has already been said he fight once was and pretends they were in there prime. hes a loser
THIS WILL BE MANNY'S LAST FIGHT, AS ROACH SO APTLY PUTS IT- BECAUSE THE GREAT 7 BELT CHAMPION WILL BE EMBARRASSED, RUIMNED, MUTILATED AND K.O'D BY THE BEST FIGHTER THAT EVER LACED -UP GLOVES
we will see mayweather if he fights will be knocked out in under 5
HE SHOULD QUIT NOW
I HATED ALI, BUT LOOKING BACK HE REALLY WAS THE GREATEST- I HATE FLOYD BUT HE IS SOOOOOOOOO FAR ABOVE THE REST THAT AS ROACH OUTS IT- "ITS GOING TO BE A WIPE OUT !!" MANNY CANNOT HANDLE HIS SPEED - WHAT MANNY DOES IS GETS HIT THEN STANDS STRAIGHT-UP LAUGHS, POUNDS HIS FISTS TOGETHER AND DRIVES RIGHT BACK IN , IN A VENGACE THRUST WITH A FUSILADE OF STRAIGHT RIGHTS AND LEFTS PUNNISHING HIS OPPONENT THAT THINKS HE JUST HURT HIM....FLOYD WILL NOT FALL FOR THAT HE'LL SIDE STEP THE ONCOMMING BARRAGE AND KO MANNY WITH A LEFT JUST LIKE HATTON....TOO MUCH MOUTH BUT THAT MOUTH IS BACKED UP BY TOO MUCH SKILL JUST LIKE ALI
Floyd has zero chance of winning by KO , THATS A JOKE. His record is full of hand picked fighters.The biggest names on his record are the same fighters Pac blew out of thr ring. Mayweather lost the DeLaHoya fight on 1 judges card by 3 points!!!! damn enough said. Manny wins by late KO...
All great fighters lose ... Its Floyds turn. Floyd likes to coast in fights,figuring he's ahead in the fight. In this fight he falls behind on the scorecards and by round 9 he's FORCED to try to take Pac out , that will be his mistake. MANNY BY RD 11 KO
Mayweather is a very very smart skilled fighter, Pacman is a club while swinging fighter. Mayweather is going to beat Pac man plain and simple. Pacman is not on Mayweather's level, not even close.