Pacquiao's First Trainer Doubts a Mayweather Fight

By Ronnie Nathanielsz

ALL the talk about Manny Pacquiao agreeing to the terms and conditions reportedly demanded by undefeated pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. means nothing, unless the American signs a contract to fight the Filipino eight-division world champion.

Pacquiao’s longtime adviser Michael Koncz told BoxingScene/Manila Standard/Viva Sports that both he and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum have “agreed to all points that were negotiated with Floyd’s representatives. Now, we are just waiting for Floyd to sign a contract.”

Both Koncz and Arum haven’t disclosed who the Mayweather representatives are because according to him, “we agreed not to mention names or terms.”

But Pacquiao himself revealed he had agreed to a 60-40 split in favor of Mayweather and a May 2 date, “because that is what he (Mayweather) wanted.”

He also agreed to random drug testing, but there was no word on which agency would do the testing, with Pacquiao having used the Voluntary Anti Doping Agency in the past, while the Mayweather people are more inclined to use the US Anti Doping Agency.

Arum told Kevin Iole that Mayweather’s representatives haven’t been able to get Floyd’s agreement which, the promoter himself has conceded, means the fight can’t happen unless they do.

Pacquiao’s first trainer, American Rick Stahaley, who trained Manny when he won his first world title, the World Boxing Council flyweight crown with a spectacular eighth-round knockout of Chatchai Sasakul on Dec. 3, 1998, told the Manila Standard that “while the stories sound more promising, I still say the fight won’t happen. All this talk is a lot of ‘BS.’ If the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight happened four years ago, it would have been a ripper.”

Right now, Stahaley believes that a Pacquiao-Amir Khan fight would be a great contest.

“I’ve been impressed with Khan’s last two fights,” said Stahaley of Khan, who put on an excellent performance against Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander.

Stahaley agreed with Mayweather’s strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza, who was formerly with Pacquiao when he had a run of spectacular victories, that the talk is emanating only from Pacquiao’s side and that Mayweather or his handlers haven’t reacted publicly at all.

Ariza told Manila Standard: “It takes more than saying the fight will happen. You have to be consistent and Manny needs to take other measures” to try and make the fight happen including giving Arum a 30 day deadline to finalize or deal or look for someone else would could.

Ariza stressed that Pacquiao “needs to stand up for himself and do more than make statements to the media” while Mayweather has stayed quiet.

Ariza made it clear, despite claims that Mayweather is afraid of losing his unbeaten record if he fights Pacquiao, “Floyd wants this fight badly” but claimed its been the same vicious cycle over the past four years when attempts to make the fight happen ended in failure.

While insisting that the public statements from the Pacquiao camp were not meant to put pressure on Mayweather, Arum told Iole “I want to get some movement here, with bringing Mayweather to the table so we can go out and get everything signed and get the networks together and get the thing finished.