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TOP Rank promoter Bob Arum said yesterday he is still hoping they can talk some sense to the Floyd Mayweather people to do a Manny Pacquiao fight in late May, even as he indicated he didn’t read anything into the brief telephone conversation between the two boxers Thursday night.
Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz said Mayweather actually called him and since the Filipino ring icon happened to be there, he handed the phone over to Manny and the two fighters spoke. Koncz met Mayweather and had a one-on-one conversation at the boxer’s gym in Las Vegas last month.
“Anybody who is rational, including HBO and everybody knows you don’t do a fight of this magnitude at such short notice. You are leaving tons of money on the table. I think that Floyd is going to realize that and for some reason, if he doesn’t want to postpone the fight against Manny at the end of May or the beginning of June, he’ll do another fight and Manny will do another fight on June 9,” Arum insisted.
He also suggested that what should be done is “to sit down immediately and negotiate a fight for November. That way, you are not doing it hodge-podge, you are doing serious negotiations. Pacquiao would be more than willing to seriously negotiate a fight for November. As far as I am concerned, that’s the way sensible people should do this. They should each have a fight, Floyd should serve his prison time and then they have a fight in November, which we should negotiate now.”
At the same time, Arum claimed that the secretary of Judge Melissa Saragosa had stated there was absolutely nothing that she had said that Mayweather had to fight on May 5.
“In other words, she said clearly he can fight anytime he wants to in May,” said Arum, contradicting Mayweather’s earlier claim that the judge had bound him to a May 5 fight date.
Arum also indicated that Mayweather will have a hard time finding a decent opponent, “because he won’t pay anybody anything, unlike Manny, who pays his opponents really well.” There were reports that World Boxing Council light middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez had backed out, because Mayweather was not willing to pay him the purse he wanted.
“This thing is frustrating particularly because of all this nonsense that goes on in the media. Nothing is happening, nothing is being accomplished,” said Arum.
In a joking manner, Arum told Manila Standard: “If I can grab these Mayweather people by the neck, I would say ‘okay let’s sit down, let’s negotiate a deal for November. Floyd fights in May, Manny in June.’ It will be really big and everybody will have an additional payday and before you know it, it will be November and we’ll own the entire year.”
http://www.manila standardtoday.com/i...012/january/21
Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz said Mayweather actually called him and since the Filipino ring icon happened to be there, he handed the phone over to Manny and the two fighters spoke. Koncz met Mayweather and had a one-on-one conversation at the boxer’s gym in Las Vegas last month.
“Anybody who is rational, including HBO and everybody knows you don’t do a fight of this magnitude at such short notice. You are leaving tons of money on the table. I think that Floyd is going to realize that and for some reason, if he doesn’t want to postpone the fight against Manny at the end of May or the beginning of June, he’ll do another fight and Manny will do another fight on June 9,” Arum insisted.
He also suggested that what should be done is “to sit down immediately and negotiate a fight for November. That way, you are not doing it hodge-podge, you are doing serious negotiations. Pacquiao would be more than willing to seriously negotiate a fight for November. As far as I am concerned, that’s the way sensible people should do this. They should each have a fight, Floyd should serve his prison time and then they have a fight in November, which we should negotiate now.”
At the same time, Arum claimed that the secretary of Judge Melissa Saragosa had stated there was absolutely nothing that she had said that Mayweather had to fight on May 5.
“In other words, she said clearly he can fight anytime he wants to in May,” said Arum, contradicting Mayweather’s earlier claim that the judge had bound him to a May 5 fight date.
Arum also indicated that Mayweather will have a hard time finding a decent opponent, “because he won’t pay anybody anything, unlike Manny, who pays his opponents really well.” There were reports that World Boxing Council light middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez had backed out, because Mayweather was not willing to pay him the purse he wanted.
“This thing is frustrating particularly because of all this nonsense that goes on in the media. Nothing is happening, nothing is being accomplished,” said Arum.
In a joking manner, Arum told Manila Standard: “If I can grab these Mayweather people by the neck, I would say ‘okay let’s sit down, let’s negotiate a deal for November. Floyd fights in May, Manny in June.’ It will be really big and everybody will have an additional payday and before you know it, it will be November and we’ll own the entire year.”
http://www.manila standardtoday.com/i...012/january/21
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