Pacquiao-Mayweather fight still no go

By Al S. Mendoza

 

AGAIN, there is no clear opponent yet for Manny Pacquiao.

As we go to press, talks of a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight are off.

That was supposed to be held May 5, the date Mayweather reserved at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The weirdness of it is, when Mayweather set that date and told hotel management he’d fight someone on that day, he had not talked to any boxer about such fight.

All Mayweather said was, he was going to fight “the little fella” on May 5 and he needed the MGM Grand as venue of the bout.

Later, Mayweather identified the “little fella” as Manny Pacquiao.

But many were not surprised.

The world knows how Mayweather operates, how he treats things, how he mistreats people.

Still, when Pacquiao learned of it officially, he reacted in a rather diplomatic way.

He didn’t say no to the fight.

In fact, he said, “Why not?”

Short of saying, “Let’s get it on!”

It is no secret that Pacquiao himself wants the fight held as soon as possible.

One, time is of the essence.  Mayweather isn’t getting any younger.  He is 34 now, Pacquiao a year or two younger.

Two, the money involved is too tempting to resist.  If sealed, Pacquiao and Mayweather are reported to earn as much as $50 million each – the biggest in the beak-busting business.

Showing his sincerity – finally? – that he wants the fight, Mayweather even called Pacquiao by long distance.

Alas, the reason Mayweather called was, he didn’t like Pacquiao’s public statement that the purse should be split 50-50.

“I want 60 percent and you get only 40 percent,” Mayweather told Pacquiao.

Of course, Pacquiao termed Mayweather’s statement a “turn-off.”

So, as of this writing, Pacquiao has dropped – yet again – Mayweather and, believe it or not, has put Miguel Cotto in his radar.

Remember Cotto?

He was the guy whom Pacquiao battered to submission en route to a decisive 12th-round TKO win in 2009.

Pacquiao meeting Cotto a second time won’t entail consequential problems.

For one, Cotto is also under the wings of Bob Arum, the American promoter of Pacquiao.

For another, the fight won’t need a big venue and the MGM Grand would be just fine.

In contrast, a Pacquiao-Mayweather bout would require a 45,000-seat arena in order to maximize earnings that could reach as much as US$35 M more.

Money is good, but if Mayweather should prove more of a headache than an ally in the staging of the dream bout with Pacquiao, the Filipino boxing icon is willing to drop Floyd The Fraud altogether in favor of Cotto.

Anyway, any one that Pacquiao picks to fight will almost always promise a blockbuster of a bout at the tills.

Doubt not, Virginia.  Anything that Pacquiao touches turns into gold.

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