Better late than never.
After an avalanche of false reports, flawed updates and overall bedlam and hysteria for a match that probably should have happened five years ago and has paralyzed the sport, the fight everyone still wants to see between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao has finally arrived.
The undefeated Mayweather Jr. and hyper-aggressive Pacquiao, both welterweight champions and both in their late 30s, will finally meet May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in a match-up of two of the greatest fighters of their generation.
The bout was finally announced on Friday by Mayweather on his Shots social media selfie app, which he has invested a cool million in.
The fight will be televised jointly by HBO (which has Pacquiao) and Showtime (Mayweather) with announcers splitting duties.
It?s the first time since 2002 when Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis tangled that the two networks have worked hand-in-hand.
The bout is expected to be the most profitable fight of all time, smashing every previous box office record, such as the all-time PPV buy record of 2.4 million (for Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya); the PPV revenue record of $150 million for Mayweather and Saul (Canelo) Alvarez and the all-time gate record of $20 million for Mayweather and Alvarez.
Mayweather (47-0, 26 knockouts) has fought his last 10 fights at the MGM and Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 knockouts) has waged five of his previous seven matches there, making it a familiar landing spot for both.
If the actual fight matches the tense, dramatic negotiations that led to an agreement finally being reached, it will go down as one of the greatest fights of all time.
Manny Pacquiao brings his 57 career victories into the ring vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. when the two finally meet in Las Vegas in May. FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES Manny Pacquiao brings his 57 career victories into the ring vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. when the two finally meet in Las Vegas in May. Because of bad blood between Mayweather and Pacquiao promoter, Bob Arum, Les Moonves, the president and CEO of CBS, helped negotiate the bout on behalf of Arum. The two are good friends.
Pacquiao agreed to the smaller take of a 60-40 split, Olympic-style drug testing and even the types of gloves he would wear.
The super fight is reportedly a one-bout deal with no rematch clause built into the contracts.
With Pacquiao- an eight-division champion- saying he signed an agreement to face Mayweather, who has won titles in five different weight classes, back in January, the world waited to see if Mayweather would do the same.
Both Mayweather and Pacquiao showed up at a Miami Heat basketball game on January 27 and exchanged numbers, causing even more speculation on the nearness of the bout.
The two even met at a Miami hotel room later that night, stoking even more rumors and gossip.
Then, just days before the Super Bowl, Arum said a deal could be reached on the day of the big game on Feb. 1.
When a deal wasn?t reached, stories began to emerge blaming Arum for causing the talks to stall.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. in action in 2010. JED JACOBSOHN/GETTY IMAGES Floyd Mayweather Jr. in action in 2010. Along the way to a deal, more stories surfaced promising the bout had been finalized. Oftentimes the bearer of bad news was Showtime boxing head Stephen Espinoza, tweeting that an agreement had not yet been reached.
On Sunday, Mayweather told a reporter at the NBA All-Star game at the Garden that rumors both contracts had been signed was pure ?speculation.? But he added, ?Hopefully we can make the fight happen.?
Meanwhile, talks progressed with a source telling the Daily News over the weekend that both sides were very close and an announcement could be made this week.
Then on Thursday afternoon, Mayweather was spotted walking through the city with a coterie of lawyers and bodyguards near Grand Central Terminal, not far from the HBO and Showtime offices.
The two nearly signed a deal in 2009 after Mayweather un-retired to win a decision against Juan Manuel Marquez and Pacquiao knocked out Miguel Cotto.
Both sides had agreed to a 50-50 revenue split and were both were linked with HBO at the time. However, the issue of drug testing scuttled those talks.
Ever since, there have been fleeting discussions to make the fight happen but nothing has stuck.
Until now.
