by Ruslan Chikov
The CEO of Top Rank, Bob Arum, was willing to wait for Floyd Mayweather Jr. The promoter of Manny Pacquiao had tried to contact Mayweather to finalize a deal for a May 7 clash at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Because nobody had heard from Mayweather, three other opponents entered the picture - Shane Mosley, Andre Berto and Juan Manuel Marquez. After negotiating with all three sides, a deal was closed for Pacquiao to defend his WBO welterweight title against Mosley.
Arum states that Pacquiao would have waited for Mayweather, if they received some type of response regarding the unbeaten boxer's availability to accept a May fight.
"It wasn't a secret, Mayweather was our top priority. All Mayweather had to do was give us a signal that he would have been available pending his legal situation and we would have waited. But we never heard from him. Nobody heard from him. He didn't speak with anyone," Arum said to the Golzka paper.
