By Rick Reeno

Stephen Espinoza, head of Showtime Sports, spoke to BoxingScene.com to set the record straight regarding a series of stories that were widely circulated on Friday.

The first story appeared in the New York Post, where Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum, who promotes Manny Pacquiao, told the paper that a deal might be finalized in the "next couple of days" for a May 2nd mega-fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The second story appeared on TMZ, where the website claimed that Mayweather-Pacquiao was a "DONE DEAL."

Espinoza's network has an exclusive agreement with Mayweather and he completely denies the information that appeared in both publications.

Showtime/CBS continue to hold ongoing discussions with HBO/Top Rank to make the fight.

"These series of reports that the fight is done is completely baffling to us. Rick, this deal is not close to being done - and everyone involved knows that. Top Rank's lawyers have said that there are significant open issues, so I don't understand how Bob can conceivably be saying the fight is imminent and will be closed within the next couple of days," Espinoza told BoxingScene.com.

"The bottom line remains the same that it has been for the last couple of weeks - we are continuing to work hard to make a deal. We are continuing to make progress, but there are meaningful open issues. We can't celebrate getting two-thirds across a minefield. You celebrate when you completely cross and you are clear of danger. Right now we are still in the minefield."

On Tuesday, the boxing community went wild when Mayweather and Pacquiao were speaking to each other, face to face, at a Heat-Bucks basketball game in Miami, Florida. Later that night, the two fighters - along with Pacquiao's adviser Michael Koncz, sat down in the Filipino star's hotel suite to discuss the open issues in their ongoing negotiations.

Koncz told BoxingScene that during the meeting Mayweather called up Espinoza, who spoke with Koncz and Pacquiao for a brief moment.

"We talked briefly. It was mainly to make it clear what our intentions are and to close a deal as quickly as possible. And I believe that's what his and Manny's intentions are and that's what our intentions are. So hopefully that's all that's going to matter and we're going to close these issues up in the near future. But I want to make it clear that it's not going to be this weekend and it's not going to be in the next couple of days," Espinoza said.