By Ronnie Nathanielsz
EIGHT-DIVISION world champion Manny Pacquiao believes that his May 2 clash with Floyd Mayweather Jr. will happen.
Although Pacquiao and his longtime adviser Michael Koncz, who stayed behind in the US, refused to comment on the prospects of the fight happening, the Filipino ring icon during a Sunday interview with Chris Wallace of Fox News, expressed optimism that their multi-million dollar showdown planned for the MGM Grand in Las Vegas will be announced “within one week.”
“I’m thinking that the fight will happen. So hopefully—within one week, though, we can hear from them and fix the fight…I don’t want that when I retire from boxing, there’s a big question in the minds of the fans,” Pacquiao stated.
Pacquiao’s statement was made one day after undefeated pound-for-pound king Mayweather, on his official Instagram page, wrote: “From the looks of this video, I’m telling Manny Pacquiao that we have to give the world this fight.”
Mayweather made the statement as he posted a short video clip of his face-to-face meeting with Pacquiao in Manny’s hotel suite in Miami in the presence of Koncz, who said the meeting last Jan. 27 lasted more than an hour.
An unusually complimentary Mayweather said: “You know, I congratulate him on his career. He’s had a wonderful career, and I’ve had a wonderful career. But before we leave this sport, of course, we have to make this fight happen.”
Mayweather earlier claimed that he was being accused of not pushing for the fight, debunking the claim of Top Rank promoter Bob Arum that he was the cause of the delay in getting the fight done.
Mayweather pointed out: “I set up this meeting with Manny Pacquiao to get this fight done, but they will continue to tell the public it’s us and that’s NOT TRUE.”
Manila Standard/Viva Sports learned that both Pacquiao (and Koncz) and Mayweather had decided to go ahead with the fight and that despite Arum’s claims, he is not involved in negotiating with HBO and Showtime.
Boxing writer Kevin Iole claimed that Arum’s “loose lips” were hampering an agreement and that even his stepson, HBO President Todd duBeof, was “irate.”
