by T.K. Stewart
While information is scant as of this writing, another player has reportedly stepped into the fray in a big way and has expressed serious interest in hosting the possible megafight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. on March 13.
AEG, who is headquartered at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles and owns several stadiums around the world (and is also part owner of Golden Boy Promotions) has gone all in with a bid to be in the vicinity of $20 million to host the fight at STAPLES Center.
The AEG bid comes on the heels of the news that Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy, has nixed the idea of holding the fight at Jerry Jones' newly erected 100,000 seat stadium in Texas that cost $1 billion to construct.
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In recent days, several news outlets, including the Associated Press, have reported that Pacquiao had signed the contract agreeing to fight Mayweather, Jr. However, Bob Arum told the Associated Press Wednesday that was not the case and Pacquiao has not yet signed a contract.
BoxingScene made a call to the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood to seek clarification and Freddie Roach tells us that Manny Pacquiao has signed a contract and that the key points have been agreed to. Those key points include the size of the gloves the fighters are to wear (8 ounce) and that each fighter will pick the brand they wish to wear. Roach says Manny will wear Reyes gloves. The other key point is the purse for the two men, which will be a 50/50 split right down the middle. Neither fighter can weigh more than 147 pounds.
Roach indicated that he wants a “10-week camp” and they will split their time between Baguio City in the Philippines and his gym in Los Angeles, similar to the schedule they utilized for the fight against Miguel Cotto.
However, it's not expected that Pacquiao would open camp in the Philippines until after a Jan. 6 press conference to announce the fight. Allowing for time to return to the Philippines, it would only leave Pacquiao a window of training likely beginning Jan. 9 in Baguio City with the last full day of sparring and training to take place on March 7 in Los Angeles. That is a total of 58 days - or 8 weeks. I didn't question Roach on his math.
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Word has filtered through to BoxingScene.com that as long as WBC lightweight titlist Edwin Valero makes it by Hector Velazquez on Dec. 19 in Venezuela, then next up for Valero could be Antonio DeMarco.
The date that organizers are shooting for is the first or second week in February, possibly in Texas or Mexico. It's not clear at this point whether a major cable network would televise the bout or if Top Rank may televise a “Latin Fury” pay-per-view.
Valero is undefeated at 25-0, 25 KOs and is promoted by Top Rank. DeMarco, promoted by Gary Shaw Productions, holds the interim WBC lightweight title and has a record of 23-1-1, 17 KOs. Both fighters are crowd-pleasing southpaws.
E-mail: tkstewartboxing@gmail.com
