By Lem Satterfield
Despite all of the hype that labeled the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. negotiations as being very difficult, Pacquiao's adviser Michael Koncz says the negotiations went very smooth. The promoters for both fighters, Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions, reached an agreement last week. The documents were forwarded to Mayweather for his approval.
Mayweather has until mid-July to agree before Top Rank CEO Bob Arum secures another opponent for Pacquiao. The big issue is whether or not Mayweather wants to fight in 2010. If Mayweather takes a pass, the fight with Pacquiao would get pushed to 2011 with May as the tentative month. If Mayweather agrees, the fight will take place on Nov. 13 at either Thomas & Mack Center or the MGM Grand -- each of which is in Las Vegas.
When the two sides tried to finalize a deal in January for what would have been a March 13 clash, much of negotiations was made public because the promoters and the fighters were discussing almost every aspect of the deal with the press. The second time around, the sides for Mayweather (41-0, 25 KOs) and Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs) reached a mutual agreement to place a gag order on everyone involved until the negotiations were complete.
According to Koncz, the gag order led to a more focused and less hostile discussion. Nobody is talking to confirm, but the rumored agreement calls for a 50/50 split of the money, eight-ounce gloves and a random drug testing protocol.
"The last time around, there were a lot of comments made in the media from both sides. Whether they were true or false, I don't think was important. But this thing was negotiated in the media the last time, and that's what made it difficult to get the deal done," said Koncz.
"I think that because of the so-called, self-proposed and imposed gag order for this round of negotiations, that the talks have gone better this time. I strongly believe that it was very detrimental the last time that a lot of what was said to the press was inaccurate, and a lot of it was blown out of proportion. So as a result, a lot of people's egos got hurt."
The first time around, Koncz says a lot of media reports had false information from the negotiations and it made things very difficult for both sides. The second time around, they kept the terms confidential to avoid any problems with reaching an agreement.
"Any time you do a business deal or a negotiation, in order to be successful and make the most of it and make people happy, there has to be concessions made on both sides. But that's with any negotiations, there has to be concessions," said Koncz.
"I think what was beneficial in this case was that we basically put a gag order on it, where nobody reveals specific details from either side. Everything being confidential, the parties don't have to justify the responses or defend or counter responses to the media or anybody because no one is saying much."
Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com. To read more from Lem Satterfield, go to AOL FanHouse by Clicking Here .
