By Jake Donovan
It wasn’t quite LeBron James: The Decision, but Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum drew plenty of interest from within the boxing circle with his after-hours conference call with the media to give the update on negotiations between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
Sadly for those who stayed up in the wee hours of the morning for confirmation, what was revealed at the stroke of midnight on the West Coast was what had been speculated all along – that for the second time this year, efforts to secure a super fight between the best two fighters in the world have once again come up short.
The news doesn’t necessarily mean that the fight is dead altogether. What the deadline – which officially expired at 12:00AM Pacific Time on July 17, 2010 – served for was a period of exclusivity in which Arum and Pacquiao couldn’t negotiate for any other fight while awaiting word from Mayweather.
They are now free to proceed with Plan B for a proposed pay-per-view event on November 13. Against whom and where it will take place is not immediately known, nor is it out of the question that it could still come against Mayweather should the undefeated welterweight leader finally break his silence.
“A lot of people asked me if the Mayweather fight is done,” Arum stated when asked of the possibility of the fight ever happening at all, never mind later this year. “My answer is a simple on - it’s done when we conclude negotiations for a fight with Manny against another opponent for November 13. Then, (a Mayweather fight) is dead.
“But if Floyd suddenly surfaced while negotiations were going on, we’d certainly be open to it. If Manny committed and I committed to either Cotto or Margarito, it would be a done deal. But while these fights are being negotiated and Floyd came to the table… that’s the fight we want more than any other right now.”
Given the weeklong countdown in anticipation that Mayweather would either reject the fight or not say anything at all in addition to the hate-hate relationship that exists between the fighter and the man by whom he was promoted for the first ten years of his career, many expected Arum to run wild with the situation.
Instead, the expressed sympathy through speculation as to why the clock struck zero without confirmation or even a spoken word said.
“I am sure that there is a very good reason he has for not taking the fight at this time,” Arum theorized. “One possibility- and I’m speculating – is the unavailability of (uncle and head trainer) Roger Mayweather and the uncertainty of his upcoming trials.”
Roger Mayweather has a pending trial date in August for allegedly assaulting and choking a female boxer last August in Las Vegas. There exists a strong possibility that he could spend anywhere from a few months to a couple of years in jail if found guilty, which obviously removes him from Mayweather’s corner for a potential November 13 fight.
Arum put himself in his former fighter’s shoes and understands the dilemma, even using his own fighter as an example of why he would accept it – if in fact it’s the reason.
“I know how Manny Pacquiao would feel going into a fight like this without the services of Freddie Roach and I’m sure Mayweather feels the same way about not having Roger.”
The plan now is to begin negotiations with Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito, both of whom fight under the Top Rank umbrella.
Arum has floated the names of both fighters as potential Plan B opponents for Pacquiao but insists that such mentioning was never anything more than suggestions for the media. Yet to be determined is the financial details, the venue or even the weight for Pacquiao to face either fighter.
“These negotiations (with Cotto or Margarito) will begin in the next few days. We haven’t negotiated with anyone as a promise to Ross. We will start now, but I can’t answer (how much they’ll make) until I begin negotiating.”
While Arum refused to reveal what was stated in the contracts for the proposed Mayweather fight, all that was stated was that Pacquiao had agreed to all terms and that all was left was for Mayweather to either sign on or say ‘No thank you.’
Nor at any point had Arum ever spoken with anyone directly on the Mayweather. When the fight was first floated late last year, Arum negotiated with Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer on behalf of Mayweather.
This time, all talks went through Ross Greenburg, who is the president of HBO Sports. Arum would talk to Greenburg, who in turn served as a mediator of sorts, communicating with Al Haymon, Mayweather’s longtime advisor.
The second batch of negotiations began the Monday following Mayweather’s landslide win over former three-division champion Shane Mosley this past May. Pacquiao was six weeks removed from his virtual shutout over Joshua Clottey at Cowboys Stadium and entrenched in a political campaign that would ultimately win him a Congressional seat in the Philippines.
At the time, Arum stated that if Pacquiao won the election, his next fight would be November 13. Had he lost, the target time frame would’ve been September.
Nevertheless, he wasted no time when he was posed the question of whether or not they would be willing to renew talks for a Mayweather showdown.
It was Arum’s belief and understanding that everyone danced as hard as they could to make the fight happen, but that it simply failed to materialize in the end.
“Based on what Greenburg told me, Haymon told him he was working on it and expected something shortly, but nothing ever materialized. I don’t blame Haymon at all – from what I understand, he worked very hard to make a deal.”
Top Rank will now have to work even harder to convince the networks and the public that a fight with either Cotto or Margarito is a sufficient backup plan.
The early sell on a Cotto rematch would be that the Puerto Rican now holds alphabet hardware in the junior middleweight division. Pacquiao has already won titles in more weight classes than any other fighter in boxing history and a repeat win over Cotto would extend that record to eight.
The downside is whether or not anyone would care, not just because of the waning significance in alphabet titles, but more so because of the lopsided nature of their fight last November.
Cotto had his moments early in the fight, but suffered knockdowns in the third and fourth rounds to permanently fall behind. The Puerto Rican took a major league beating but showed no signs of quitting until referee Kenny Bayless forced him to give up less than a minute into the 12th and final round.
He has since rebounded, taking a title from Yuri Foreman last month at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. It was that effort, coupled by whom Cotto now has surrounding him, that makes Arum believe that everyone will eventually come around and warm up to the idea of a rematch.
“The Cotto rematch would be about Manny going for an eighth title, fighting at a higher weight. Cotto also has Emanuel Steward in his corner, one of the great trainers of all time. That would give the fight more ammunition than last time.”
Perhaps more problematic is the selling of a fight with Margarito, though Arum leaves that up to others to decide.
“I’m not going to take up now (the topic of Margarito “deserving” of a shot). That’s for (the media) to editorialize if they want.”
The former welterweight titlist has yet to be relicensed in the United States after having his license revoked last January following the handwrap scandal in the moments preceding his eventual ninth-round knockout loss to Shane Mosley.
Margarito and his legal team appeared before the Nevada State Athletic Commission on July 9 in efforts to seek a license, but was instead sent packing when the panel voted by a margin of 4-1 to table his application until he takes up his case with the California State Athletic Commission, who on Friday rejected his team’s request for a hearing later this month due to timing issues.
Based on the latter issue, Arum hopes the NSAC will be more forgiving of the situation. If not, he already has a back-up plan.
“Our goal is for the Nevada commission, based on the California commission putting off the hearing, granting Margarito a conditional license. If not, we would look to do the fight in Monterey, Mexico.”
A Pacquiao-Cotto rematch would take place either at Cowboys Stadium or in Las Vegas.
Whatever they decide, the proverbial clock is ticking, much like the actual “Money Mayweather Countdown” clock Top Rank had displayed on its website for the past several days.
It’s doubtful that Top Rank will go the same route for its own fighters, but what is clear is that – given Pacquiao’s political obligations – an opponent needs to be secured in hurry.
“The time frame would have to be within the next ten days,” Arum stated. “I’m dealing with a very unusual situation – a fighter (Pacquiao) who is also a Congressman. I have to schedule press conferences a lot further out than would usually be the case. “
It’s Arum’s hope that negotiations with either fighter could conclude within a week, though he first has to discuss with Pacquiao which fighter he prefers.
While there were issues over money and weight for Pacquiao’s fight with Cotto last November, Arum believes that everyone will be understanding of the tight time frame they are up against and will move quickly to strike a deal.
At the very least, he doesn’t expect money to be an issue.
“Cotto took a lesser guarantee for his fight with Manny last year, but was able to make a tremendous amount on the pay-per-view upside. In fact, he made more that way than had he held out for a larger guarantee.
“The same goes for Margarito when he fought Cotto (in July 2008). He took a reasonable guarantee and made even more from the upside.”
No other names have yet entered the mix, with Arum shooting down the possibility of fighters such as Tim Bradley and Paul Williams. While high on both, he believes they are victims of poor marketing development, describing a crack at Pacquiao and the payday that comes with the fight as “giving them a free ride, since we’re the ones financing it.”
But even as he proceeds with next in line for Pacquiao’s proposed November 13 date, he still holds out hope that the fight everyone wants to see is the one that actually happens. All he can do in the meantime, though, is cover all of the bases.
“The fight that we want to do is Mayweather. We haven’t said anything differently or acted differently. We’re going to proceed with trying to getting him an opponent, getting him a fight in the interim until a fight with Mayweather can happen.”
If and when that can happen is – for the moment – entirely up to Mayweather to say anything. That they failed to once again make this one official is hardly a surprise to anyone in the industry, just a great disappointment. What remains the greatest unsolved mystery, is why Mayweather hasn’t said anything at all, even if to turn down the fight for whatever reason.
“Why Floyd hasn’t articulated his reason, I can’t answer it,” a puzzled Arum stated. “I’ve been in this business for 40 years; nothing surprises me. Who knows the reason (why they haven’t said anything); it’s relatively unfathomable. I’m not surprised, but I just can’t figure it out.”
All that’s left to figure out is who Pacquiao will face on November 13, and how to make the fans happy in the process.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .
