It's a pound-for-pound super showdown that's failed twice at the negotiation table in the past two years, a match-up that would surpass all pay-per-view figures in boxing and one that would unify two alphabet titles… WBC welterweight world championship incumbent Floyd Mayweather Jr wants it, WBO titlist at 147lbs Manny Pacquiao wants it but the team behind the Filipino have mixed opinions about how the bout can turn from pipe-dream into reality.
Credit: Floyd Mayweather (@FloydMayweather)
"I'm ready to put my belt up. What about you Manny Pacquiao? Let's make history," Mayweather (42-0-0, 26ko) said via his official Twitter account yesterday, Wednesday, one day after calling "punk" Pacman out for a fight on May 5.
There had been increasing suggestions that Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38ko) would not shirk from the challenge and meet it head on, however, his trainer; Freddie Roach, trusted adviser; Michael Koncz and promoter; Bob Arum, of Top Rank Boxing, have all made public their thoughts and, although differing from each other, all suggest a further postponement to what is already a protracted and laboured attempt at putting together two of the finest fighters from the past decade.
"I think it has to happen in 2012, because people are starting to say, 'Who cares at this point?'" explained Roach regarding the frustration felt by fans during a segment with host Mario Diaz of WPIX. "It is starting to lose momentum instead of gaining, so they better do it this year. I definitely think it will be the second fight for both of them this year. I think they will both have one more fight, a tune-up fight."
Mayweather's allowance to push his 87-day jail sentence back until June 1 hinged on his previous commitment to box on Cinco de Mayo so, in the event that Pacquiao is not his opponent, another - likely Saul Canelo Alvarez - will be drafted in. For Pacquiao, it could well be a fourth fight with Juan Manuel Marquez the following month.
Pushing the Mayweather v Pacquiao fight into the second half of the year is a stance also advocated by Koncz, who regards the MGM Grand Garden Arena's 16,800 seats to have a capacity too meagre for a contest of this calibre. Koncz, like Bob Arum, believes a makeshift 40,000 seat arena should be constructed on the strip. Such a task would render a May 5 date too soon.
"Why would I tell Manny to fight on the 5th and throw away a percentage of 30 million? That's crazy," Koncz was quoted by AP to have said, perhaps overlooking the fact that Las Vegas already has a mega-stadium - the Motor Speedway - that could entertain 140,000 people.
Arum echoed Koncz's views on the outdoor ground: "[The fight] could happen very easily," he said during an address on GMA TV in the Philippines. "[But] the fight badly needs [the makeshift arena]."
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