Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: Bob Arum Not Negotiating in Good Faith

It's been more than a week since Floyd Mayweather, Jr. used Twitter to call out Manny Pacquiao to fight on May 5. In the time since, the two sides have slowly tiptoed towards striking a deal.

On the bright side, both Mayweather's camp and Pac-Man's camp are closer to a deal than they've ever been. On the not-so-bright side, they're still pretty far apart.

The matter of drug testing that derailed this potential superfight a couple years ago seems to be a non-issue, and it even seems like the two sides are cool with one another in terms of a 50-50 purse split if Mayweather and Pac-Man fight in a couple months.

Indeed, ESPN.com's Dan Rafael was even able to confirm that the two fighters talked about the split over the phone.

The big question now is merely when the fight with be held, and that's something that Bob Arum, Pac-Man's promoter, is making difficult.

Per Rafael, we know that Mayweather is targeting May 5 for a couple reasons. The first is because he has a deal in place to fight on that date at the MGM Grand, and the second is because fighting on that date will give him enough time to heal up before beginning an 87-day jail sentence in June.

Arum told BoxingScene.com on Thursday that he's not buying any of it.

“They got to get off this May 5 date,” said Arum.

“Their statement that they’re obligated by the court to fight on May 5 is complete and utter poppycock. We have the court order. It doesn’t say anything like that.”

Arum would much rather have the fight on May 26, three weeks after Mayweather's proposed date and less than one week before he's scheduled to report to prison.

Arum's proposed date prompted Mayweather to tweet this:

That right there is a strong indication that Mayweather is not willing to budge. He has all the proper arrangements, but it's up to Arum to provide Pac-Man to complete the ensemble.

The reason Arum wants to have the fight on May 26 is because that would allow it to take place at a 38,000-seat outdoor venue that he wants to have constructed just off the Las Vegas strip. By comparison, the MGM Grand only seats about 17,000 people.

"It's beautiful," Arum told BoxingScene.com of the venue, "Plenty of room. Great access, great parking. We visited the site yesterday. The construction people, the casino people, they all think it’s a great location.”

Location is one thing, but Arum's primary motivation for having the fight there is money. Because his venue would seat more people, having the fight there would mean more revenue.

This, folks, is good old-fashioned greed.

Mayweather vs. Pacquiao doesn't need to take place in a larger venue in order to generate a ton of money. It would be arguably the biggest fight of all time, which would mean it would pull in plenty of money from beyond Las Vegas via pay-per-view purchases.

Both Mayweather's and Pacquiao's fights tend to do well in this regard, so one can only imagine what kind of numbers could be generated if they were to be put together.

Basically, it's a choice between getting rich or getting filthy rich. By insisting that the fight be held at the outdoor venue, Arum is choosing Option B.

Arum has effectively put his foot down, sending a message that says, "Look, I know you challenged us, but this fight is only going to happen if you shut up and come to us. It's our way or the high way."

There is no give and take going on here. Arum has played his hand and is now merely waiting.

This has been Arum's general approach to a Mayweather fight for a couple years now, and his unwillingness to compromise is just as big a hurdle now as it's ever been. Perhaps more so.

This fight isn't going to happen unless Arum makes a concession or two. He has made it abundantly clear that he has no such plans.