We should have known it was too good to be true. Turns out that the much-hyped Floyd Mayweather v Manny Pacquiao fight isn’t happening after all, at least not yet.
Fight fans the world over got themselves into a frenzy of excitement earlier this year after ‘Money’ started calling out Pacquiao on Twitter, challenging him to take him on in the ring on 5 May in Las Vegas.
It is a fight that probably should have happened years ago, but has been repeatedly put on the back burner despite both boxers indicating their willingness to go head to head.
According to Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum, there is now no chance that the fight will go ahead in May, with Arum citing Mayweather’s refusal to promise a 50/50 purse split one of the main reasons why.
“They (the Mayweather camp) don’t want to fight in late May,” Arum is quoted as saying in The LA Times.
“It’s dead for May, so we should … let Mayweather fight someone else May 5 and we’ll fight someone else June 9, and then let’s get a signed contract for (Mayweather-Pacquiao) in November. That’s a win-win for everybody.”
Chief Executive of Golden Boy Promotions Richard Schaefer, who has promoted all of Mayweather’s fights since 2007, said of the proposed fight: “Everybody moves on. That’s what we’re doing. Moving on.”
Arum may have suggested that the fight will take place later on this year, but we wouldn’t count on it.
Pacquiao is expected to fight either Miguel Cotto or Timothy Bradley in June, while Cotto and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez have been lined up as potential opponents for Mayweather later this year. That is, of course, if he can convince the Nevada State Athletic Commission that he should be given a license to fight anyone but Pacquiao.
In case you’d forgotten, old Floyd is due to serve a three month jail sentence for domestic violence, a sentence that had been suspended until June so he could have a major fight in May.
“Floyd is the type who wants the biggest and the best fights possible,” Schaefer added.
The biggest and best fight is Mayweather v Pacquiao lads. The longer the waiting goes on, however, the more we think it’s never going to happen.
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