By Michael Marley
There is a genuine chance that 2011 will be a calendar year in which perennial prime cable network frontrunner HBO may not televise a single Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather fight.
That's right, the ailing sport's two biggest stars may spend 2011 fighting, or in the case of the semi-retired Mayweather not fighting, elsewhere.
No Mayweather and no Pacman on HBO, it's a curious situation one must concede.
With this surprising notion in mind, I had to figure that Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum, who nearly always has something up his sleeve other than his sleeve, must be scheming, plotting and plotting and plotting how he can play off rivals HBO and Showtime/CBS to his financial benefit beyond the May 7 Sugar Shane Mosley-Pacman bout which screens on Showtime handled PPV TV.
How long will the fat cats at HBO wish to let exciting but still not at mega-star level Sergio "Maravilla" Martinez be the network's leading fistic face?
First, Arum said nothing is in the works beyond May 7 and nothing will be discussed with either network until Pacquiao and Mosley have concluded their business.
"It would be really unfair of us, I mean unfair to Manny and to Shane, to be distracted from this promotion," Arum said. "So the answer is no, we have not been distracted by future business. All talks can come right after May 7. We've got to put in extra effort now on the May 7 event, nothing else."
With a month to go before Manny and Shane cross gloves, Arum said that HBO's boxing lineup is hardly its first priority.
"If Pacquiao and/or Mayweather do not fight (this year) on HBO, HBO is and will remain a very profitable and highly successful TV company. That is for sure with or without a Pacquiao or a Mayweather fight on their air in 2011.
