But
there's a big difference between staking your claim on a pay-per-view date and
venue and actually negotiating a fight. According to Pacquiao's promoter, Bob
Arum, this recent announcement actually hinders the process of making that
long-awaited fight a reality.
“No,
we're one step further away from Pacquiao-Mayweather because if they were
sincerely trying to negotiate, they would have called me and said, ‘Right after
the Marquez fight, if you win, let's sit down and see if we can make a deal.’
That's how you do it,” stated Arum on Thursday morning. “Not say, ‘This is the
date and this is the venue.' What happens if Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson are
going to put up $30 million to put it at the Thomas and Mack? Or is Jerry Jones
going to put up a huge number? So what do you mean you reserved the MGM?
“The
point is this is a stunt done on their part in order to try to put Floyd
Mayweather back in the spotlight because it's eating him alive the attention
that Manny and Juan Manuel Marquez are getting for their fight on November 12th.”
As
for the ‘hold’ they have on the always coveted opening weekend and the MGM
Grand (which seems to annually host a big pay-per-view event on this date, Arum
scoffs at the notion,” It doesn't mean anything and what is May 5th? May 5th is a
date. What is the date? It's Cinco de Mayo- the last I knew, Mayweather ain't a
Hispanic. Pacquiao isn't a Hispanic. So what the f**k is Cinco De Mayo?!”
(It
has to be noted that in both 2010 and 2011 on this traditional pay-per-view
slot at the MGM Grand, that it was Shane Mosley who fought both Mayweather then
Pacquiao and did robust numbers. It's clear; as it relates to these two titans,
the conventional rules don't apply to them.)
As
for who the “Pac-Man” could face, should he get past his Mexican rival next
week, Arum made it clear, “I have stayed away from Manny. We have never talked
to Manny about a future opponent. I've said clearly we're not dealing with future
fights until November 13th if he's successful and that's the
bottom line of it. And what Richard Schaefer and Leonard Ellerbe have done is
just silly. It's just silly. Everybody sees through it.”
Mayweather
trying to rain on the parade of Top Rank and Pacquiao is nothing new. On the
day that Pacquiao faced Ricky Hatton in 2009, Mayweather announced his
return to the ring that morning. Arum says his focus is on his own event next
week, which also takes place at the MGM Grand.
“Pacquiao-Marquez
is doing unbelievable numbers. First of all, we know that the gate sold out in
two or three weeks, completely sold out. Not bullsh*t. That the tickets on the
after-market are going for huge numbers, we know that. We know that the
closed-circuit with Joe Gagliardi is doing off-the-charts. I haven't seen
anything like it,” he said. “We know that the pay-per-view, that DirecTV, all
of them, Comcast, are putting a lot of money into the advertising. That's going
to do un-beee-liev-able. Unbelievable. And we have all the stuff coming next
week. So they know what we're going to do a number that's going to blow
everything before it away. They know that and it's going to be very, very
difficult for them to deal with. Very, very difficult to deal with.”
Arum
then added, “We know the numbers. They're making up phony numbers. We know
that. Who are they kidding?”
It's
been about a two-year road to nowhere as it relates to making this fight come
to fruition. A myriad of issues and personal animus have gotten in the way of
making Pacquiao-Mayweather. You get the sense it may never happen. Arum admits
that the chances of this ever occurring (at least when this fight is at its
peak value) is lessening. “Yeah, sure, because adults, when they want fights to
happen, make a call, ‘Bob, let's put aside a day, two days and sit at a table
and let's see if we can put it together.’ Wouldn't you think that's the way
it's done? That's the way I'd do it.”
The
last real serious talks took place last summer, as one side claimed no
negotiations took place.
“We
had a discussion that wasn't a discussion. [then-President of HBO Sports] Ross
[Greenburg] said I talked to him. [Al] Haymon talked to him- and they say
nothing ever happened. There were no negotiations,” recalled Arum, chuckling, “and
two years ago, when we discussed it, they broke down over drug testing.”
The
Pacquiao side has made it unequivocally clear that they will submit to
Olympic-style drug testing (although it's not clear if a cutoff date has been
agreed to in terms of that testing) but the media circus that saw hourly,
changing reports of this elusive match-up back in the winter of 2009 and early
2010 will not see Arum as a participant this time around.
“Not
me, I'm not doing anything unless I get a call to sit down for a secret meeting
and if we can't put it together, we can't put it together. If we can put it together,
we'll put it together. We're not going through a circus. Why would I go through
a circus with Manny Pacquiao, who is doing numbers that no one would dream of?
“He's
the brand. I'm not going to sully the brand with a lot of nonsense.”
