Comments Thread For: “Fighting Words” – Dissecting 3 Big Fight Negotiations

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

by David P. Greisman - Discount, for a moment, the casual viewers who tune in sporadically, tuning in only when their interest is piqued and when two men launching leather fits into their lives.

For the rest of us, boxing is our lives — not just limited to the one or two nights each week in which fights are on the air, but to every other moment in which potential fights are up in the air. We think about fights that are coming up. We think about fights that have gone down.

But mostly we devote the debate to that which we want to see. We discuss not only what must be done in order for it to happen, but also, sometimes, why it will not.

We want to see Lucian Bute face one of the two other top super middleweights: Andre Ward and Carl Froch. We want to see a rematch between junior welterweights Lamont Peterson and Amir Khan. And we still want, after all these years, to see the Super Bowl of the sweet science, Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr.

These three big fights are at different points in their negotiations. These three big fights are heading in different directions, for different reasons.

Let’s save Mayweather-Pacquiao for last because, well, it’s been put first for so long that so many other bouts have gotten short shrift since.

We’ve also been waiting a couple of years for Bute to face the winner of Showtime’s “Super Six” super middleweight tournament, due to him being the best 168-pound fighter not included in the tournament when it began and him still being in that position now that the tournament has crowned a champion. [Click Here To Read More]

[daggum]

giampa didn't have a brain fart he's just ******ed. there's nothing inside his mind. this is the same guy that gave calzaghe 9 rounds against hopkins. if he can't remember what to say he sure as hell isn't going to remember how to score a fight.

[ModernTalking]

Big fight = Floyd fight

When Floyd fight it's like a party...your ticket come with a free room, a free buffet for two, and a limo ride. No one else can match that period.

[sksports]

Beast article

can nbc show maybe 1 corner talk between rounds or is the risk of swearing too high. That was the only thing it was missing. Bj flores is the man and freddie roaches speech makes out uniquely freddie. I found it entertaining. Can't wait for the zab judah match on nbc.

[Dave Rado]

by David P. Greisman - Of course, the money’s always been there for a fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. They are guaranteed to earn tens of millions of dollars.

Pride has kept them apart, however. Both boxers have put up obstacles to keep the fight from happening. Neither wanted to show too much weakness in negotiations. Neither wanted to let the other get the better of him.

This mental game has kept them from getting physical. Mayweather is now aggressively pursuing the bout, trying to pressure Pacquiao into agreeing to fight, taking stances that, should the negotiations once again sputter, might make Pacquiao to blame.

Mayweather booked the MGM Grand even before Pacquiao looked human in his third fight with Juan Manuel Marquez. Perhaps he wanted to take the date out of negotiations — May 5, or no fight. That’s the stance Mayweather has taken since. The stance, however, makes sense in terms of money. It is historically a big boxing weekend; the days around Cinco de Mayo have had major boxing matches on pay-per-view for years.

The negotiations now are no different than they’ve been in the past. They are frustrating, with fighters and promoters changing positions and taking stands, in turn standing in the way, once again, of making Mayweather-Pacquiao happen.

Pacquiao reportedly wants a 50-50 split, though he’d been quoted in the past as saying he’d take less money. Mayweather wants to earn more money than Pacquiao. Neither man is willing to take less than what he wants.

It’s not really about money, though, but about pride. Each would earn tens of millions of dollars against each other. Each will earn tens of millions of dollars without each other. [Click Here To Read More]

That's how I've always seen it and how most professional boxing writers I've read see it, including almost every boxingscene writer - and yet a whole load of Pac haters told me last week that I was lying when I said that most boxing writers have blamed both sides equally until recently for the fight not taking place, and for saying that the reason Pac pulled out of the negotiations in 2009 was simply pride rather than anything su****ious. I wonder if the same Pac-haters will gang up on David P. Greisman now as well? Funnily enough, they've never ganged up on Cliff Rold when he's blamed both sides equally for the failure of the negotiations, as he's often done until recently; and when he's put the failure down to pride. Maybe they don't take in what they read when it comes to articles by professional writers - they only take in the bits that agree with their opinions and ignore the rest.

[Lorily]

I personally think there is more anticipation for a Bradley/Khan fight than a Peterson/Khan rematch. Peterson already beat Khan. Now we need to see if Bradley can do it. Forget Khans conspiracy theories, he needed to pay more attention to what he did wrong on the inside of the ring then what others were doing on the outside. The ref did nothing wrong, and could have been a lot harder on Khan for other fouls. And the only thing the "Mystery Man" did was correct a mathmatical error, stating that 9x3 does not equal 28. It has already been stated that NONE of the scoring judges were sitting on the side of Welsh or "Mystery Man", therefore his presence had no affect on their scoring. And if the judges were trying to "give" anyone the win, it was Khan. George Hill, oops, gave Khan the 10-8 round that was impossible (and had to be fixed which is why it took so long to announce the decision), and one judge had in 115-110 for Khan AFTER the point deductions??? What fight was he watching??!?

A Peterson/Khan rematch at this point just means that GBP will insure that they get the *cough cough* "right" officials for a Khan win.

Nah. Bring on Khan/Bradley instead.

[King Ju-Ju]

Bradley is stressed!!! He fronted on Khan thinking he was gonna get Floyd or Pacquiao and he's getting neither. Don't even think he's gonna get Peterson or JMM. Lol good for that mother ****er.

[Uncle Rodge]

(Full disclosure: I’ve written one article for the UFC’s website.)

Get out..........

[Mr. David]

Get out..........

Hope you're joking...

-David
facebook.com/fightingwordsboxing
twitter.com/fightingwords2

[Mr. David]

That's how I've always seen it and how most professional boxing writers I've read see it, including almost every boxingscene writer - and yet a whole load of Pac haters told me last week that I was lying when I said that most boxing writers have blamed both sides equally until recently for the fight not taking place, and for saying that the reason Pac pulled out of the negotiations in 2009 was simply pride rather than anything su****ious. I wonder if the same Pac-haters will gang up on David P. Greisman now as well? Funnily enough, they've never ganged up on Cliff Rold when he's blamed both sides equally for the failure of the negotiations, as he's often done until recently; and when he's put the failure down to pride. Maybe they don't take in what they read when it comes to articles by professional writers - they only take in the bits that agree with their opinions and ignore the rest.

It's become so tiring when fighters spend more time justifying why a fight shouldn't happen than they do ensuring that the fight actually does.

-David
facebook.com/fightingwordsboxing
twitter.com/fightingwords2