By Steve Kim
Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather finally meet after years of unsuccessful negotiations and acrimony between the two sides. Originally discussed after Pacquiao's stoppage of Miguel Cotto in November of 2009, for five long years, this fight was stalled - dying on the vine, a few times it seemed - before finally being consummated earlier this year.
Larry Merchant, formerly of HBO Sports and still a very interested observer of the sport, has an explanation for why they are just now squaring off.
"In those five, six years both fighters fought a total of sixteen pay-per-views, they were making a lot of money and that's a reason in my mind that the differences in negotiations couldn't be overcome," said Merchant, who will be in attendance at the MGM Grand on Saturday evening.
"There's no urgency in making the fight because they were making so much money for fighting opponents that they figured to beat."
During this span, while Pacquiao took on the likes of Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito, Juan Manuel Marquez, Tim Bradley, Brandon Rios and Chris Algieri, Mayweather was facing Cotto, Robert Guerrero, Victor Ortiz, Saul Alvarez and Marcos Maidana.
Each was doing strong pay-per-view numbers for awhile in separate universes but a few things changed that dynamic. Pacquiao was brutally knocked out by Marquez in their fourth encounter in December of 2012 and his numbers have declined steadily since. Meanwhile, Mayweather went over from HBO to Showtime where he signed an exclusive six-fight deal worth reportedly $200 million that outside of the bout with 'Canelo' Alvarez has been a financial bleeder for the network.
Merchant states - "It's not coincidence in my mind that they overcame the difference when their pay-per-view numbers started to decline."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com
