Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: Floyd Says Bob Arum Is Superfight's Final Barrier

Floyd Mayweather recently hosted an intimate sit down with Rick Reeno of BoxingScene.com and a few other reporters.

The topic of a possible super-fight between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao dominated much of the discussion.

Beyond the usual hoopla such as drug tests being brought up, Mayweather noted that the only thing stopping this fight now is Bob Arum.

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“I’m ready to make the fight. I hear Manny Pacquiao wants to fight. So the only holdup right now is Bob Arum. Right now I’m saying it’s a go. May 5 is a go. Right now it’s Mayweather vs…. All Bob Arum has to say is – ‘it’s a go’ – and then it’s Mayweather vs. Pacquiao on May 5.”

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Arum is the founder and CEO of Top Rank, a boxing promotion company that currently reps Pacquiao. Arum has experience promoting for greats such as Muhammad Ali and putting together huge bouts like Hagler vs. Duran and Holyfield vs. Foreman.

For some reason, he’s been skeptical of setting Pacquiao up against the only rival that people find worthy of him in boxing, Money Mayweather.

The public has been clamoring for years to see these two men battle, as they are without a doubt the two best fighters in the sport.

Despite the fact that the Filipino fighter and his agent might pull in a record haul, they are ducking the May 5 fight.

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“There is no magic to the May 5 date,” Arum said back on January 9. “I understand there is magic to May, because [Mayweather] has to go to the hoosegow [jail] on June 1. I get that, but the magic is in [making the fight in] May, not necessarily on May 5.”

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Arum also said that they should explore building a temporary stadium on Las Vegas Blvd for the event.

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“If we just put the fight at the MGM [which seats 16,000 people], we would be leaving $20 million on the table.”

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It seems Arum isn’t going to let this fight happen unless they milk every possible dollar out of it. It’s not a bad play as an agent, but as a fan of boxing, it’s depriving the entire world of what will be an epic showdown. 

He's chosen his client's next opponent and it won't be Mayweather.

According to Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix, Arum confirmed that Manny will be matched up against either Juan Manuel Marquez, Timothy Bradley, Miguel Cotto or Lamont Peterson. 

This is a financial matter according to the promoter.

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“To be safe, they said they needed until the end of May to get it done,” Arum said. “Economically, it’s a problem that Floyd created. The amount that would be lost by moving it up to May 5^th is enormous. The fight is not going to happen on May 5^th. We’ll do the fight in November. There is no real magic in doing it in May.”

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It's insane thinking by the promoter, especially if something happens to change Mayweather's mind during his time in jail or if Pacquiao loses in that time frame.

If either of those things happen, the financial loss of not having the fight at all would outweight everything.