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My point is, we've all already seen this movie before. We all know how it's going to end...
By June, the fight seemed a lock. Oscar De La Hoya, whose Golden Boy Promotions partners with Mayweather, was quoted as saying: “The two fighters now realize that this fight must be made … It's going to be a big, big fight. I think right now we are very, very close in finalizing the contracts.”
On Monday, when Robert Morales of BoxingScene.com caught up with De La Hoya in Los Angeles, the Golden Boy denied it all. “Obviously,” he said, “negotiations weren’t going on.”
Obviously. De La Hoya knew this because last week, after negotiations broke down, Mayweather advisor Leonard Ellerbe issued a press release. “No negotiations have ever taken place,” it read. “... Either Ross Greenburg or Bob Arum is not telling the truth, but history tells us who is lying.”
He was referring to Arum, of course. But now that Greenburg’s release supports Arum’s story, the Mayweather camp has taken to citing a Make A Wish video shot June 2.
“At this particular time,” said Floyd Mayweather, “Floyd Mayweather is taking probably a year off, a couple years off from the sport of boxing.”
Oh. Then why did Haymon keep negotiating for at least another month? Is he that much of a sucker?
“You can’t fault Haymon,” says my source. “He was trying to make this fight.”
There were five guys involved here. Four of them — Pacquiao, Arum, Haymon and Greenburg — worked hard to make it happen. The fifth guy killed it.
Top Rank's Bob Arum, Pacquiao's promoter, insists they were, using HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg as an intermediary.
The Mayweather camp said that is not true and that there were never any negotiations.
The man in the middle of the storm, Greenburg, remained silent even when pressed repeatedly to offer his version of events.
On Monday night, Greenburg finally did.
He took the Arum/Pacquiao side.
"Fights like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao are significant because of these fighters' ability to connect with sports fans around the world. It's unfortunate that it won't happen in 2010," Greenburg said in a statement. "I had been negotiating with a representative from each side since May 2nd, carefully trying to put the fight together. Hopefully, someday this fight will happen. Sports fans deserve it."
Greenburg insists the fight was close to being made twice for this year. “Both times, the fight was very close to being made,” Greenburg told Satterfield. “And, the second time around, you know, all that I can say is that you would have to ask Floyd Mayweather why the fight wasn’t made. To this day, I really don’t know why Floyd decided that he didn’t want the fight any more in the fall.”
“To this day, I don’t know why he wanted to take some more time off,” said Greenburg. “Only Floyd has that answer. I certainly don’t have that answer. But, you know, it was very close. It was so, so, close. I think that it was so close that I don’t think that it’s going to take much to make the fight the third time around.”
http://www.*************.com/headlin...vs-mayweather/
I'm still waiting on someone from Floyd's side to come out of left field and claim negotiations never happened again...
By June, the fight seemed a lock. Oscar De La Hoya, whose Golden Boy Promotions partners with Mayweather, was quoted as saying: “The two fighters now realize that this fight must be made … It's going to be a big, big fight. I think right now we are very, very close in finalizing the contracts.”
On Monday, when Robert Morales of BoxingScene.com caught up with De La Hoya in Los Angeles, the Golden Boy denied it all. “Obviously,” he said, “negotiations weren’t going on.”
Obviously. De La Hoya knew this because last week, after negotiations broke down, Mayweather advisor Leonard Ellerbe issued a press release. “No negotiations have ever taken place,” it read. “... Either Ross Greenburg or Bob Arum is not telling the truth, but history tells us who is lying.”
He was referring to Arum, of course. But now that Greenburg’s release supports Arum’s story, the Mayweather camp has taken to citing a Make A Wish video shot June 2.
“At this particular time,” said Floyd Mayweather, “Floyd Mayweather is taking probably a year off, a couple years off from the sport of boxing.”
Oh. Then why did Haymon keep negotiating for at least another month? Is he that much of a sucker?
“You can’t fault Haymon,” says my source. “He was trying to make this fight.”
There were five guys involved here. Four of them — Pacquiao, Arum, Haymon and Greenburg — worked hard to make it happen. The fifth guy killed it.
Top Rank's Bob Arum, Pacquiao's promoter, insists they were, using HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg as an intermediary.
The Mayweather camp said that is not true and that there were never any negotiations.
The man in the middle of the storm, Greenburg, remained silent even when pressed repeatedly to offer his version of events.
On Monday night, Greenburg finally did.
He took the Arum/Pacquiao side.
"Fights like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao are significant because of these fighters' ability to connect with sports fans around the world. It's unfortunate that it won't happen in 2010," Greenburg said in a statement. "I had been negotiating with a representative from each side since May 2nd, carefully trying to put the fight together. Hopefully, someday this fight will happen. Sports fans deserve it."
Greenburg insists the fight was close to being made twice for this year. “Both times, the fight was very close to being made,” Greenburg told Satterfield. “And, the second time around, you know, all that I can say is that you would have to ask Floyd Mayweather why the fight wasn’t made. To this day, I really don’t know why Floyd decided that he didn’t want the fight any more in the fall.”
“To this day, I don’t know why he wanted to take some more time off,” said Greenburg. “Only Floyd has that answer. I certainly don’t have that answer. But, you know, it was very close. It was so, so, close. I think that it was so close that I don’t think that it’s going to take much to make the fight the third time around.”
http://www.*************.com/headlin...vs-mayweather/
I'm still waiting on someone from Floyd's side to come out of left field and claim negotiations never happened again...
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