MANILA, Philippines – For over five years, there was a lot of pushing and pulling in trying to make the fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. happen. As if in a bullfight, Pacquiao never took a step back in waving the red cape but Mayweather played coy from the start, apparently hesitating to face a dangerous opponent at the risk of staining his unblemished record.
It didn?t seem like the fight would ever take place with Mayweather posing a slew of impossible conditions, including Bob Arum?s removal from the equation. The trash talk from Mayweather?s camp wouldn?t stop like garbage spilling from an open can. Pacquiao took the nonsense without flinching. He kept his composure, gaining the admiration of fans from all over the world for his gentlemanly behavior, while Mayweather repeatedly taunted the Filipino icon and beat his breast. Mayweather insisted he was The Best Ever but deep down inside, there had to be an empty feeling of lack of proof.
Last year, Mayweather fought Marcos Maidana twice and neither bout took in a million pay-per-view hits. The first fight drew 850,000 and the rematch, 925,000. Maidana, an Argentine brawler with limited boxing skills, was a joke. The speculation was Mayweather deliberately made the first fight close (he won by majority decision) to merit a return bout which, unsurprisingly, turned out to be lopsided. It probably dawned on Mayweather that with two bouts left in his $250 Million Showtime contract, there was nobody left in the horizon to combine for another pay-per-view bonanza like his pair of two million sellers against Oscar de la Hoya and Saul Alvarez ? nobody except Pacquiao.
If Mayweather has an obsession in keeping the zero in his perfect record, he has more of a passion for money. His biggest paycheck so far was $41.5 Million for thrashing Alvarez two years ago. With Pacquiao, he stands to earn more than triple. So in the end, Mayweather?s greed took away the fright of risking a loss to Pacquiao. In a risk-to-reward situation, Mayweather figured he?d laugh all the way to the bank with a record guarantee of $120 Million, win or lose.
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But getting Mayweather to agree to a duel wasn?t easy. The first obstacle was the fighters are under contract by two opposing cable networks, Showtime with Mayweather and HBO with Pacquiao. In 2002, the networks got together for the heavyweight duel between Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson. Only a high-profile, magnitude fight could bring the rivals back on the same table. Dean’s Corner ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
Believe it or not, a West Hollywood restaurant waiter had something to do with bridging the gap. The waiter suggested to a guest CBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves to meet with Freddie Roach who was a frequent visitor at the restaurant. So it came to pass that Moonves and Roach met. Then, Roach convinced Moonves to sit down with Arum. One thing led to another. Arum hosted a meeting at his Beverly Hills home and Moonves reciprocated to keep the ball rolling, this time involving Mayweather?s adviser Al Haymon.
?Moonves was trying to get the fight together without Bob and I said, ?No, you?ve got to get Bob involved,?? Roach related to Tris Dixon of Boxing News. ?He called Bob ?the devil? but you know what, I put them together, we had a meeting at Bob?s house. It was hard to get them together but just for that fight, they did. I was at the meeting. They walked out of the meeting with their arms around each other.?
Moonves? support was critical since he heads CBS which owns Showtime. His goal was to maximize profits on Mayweather?s last two fights in his Showtime contract particularly as the Maidana bouts were a box office bust. Showtime stood to lose a mint if Mayweather continued to fight pushovers. With Moonves and Arum breaking bread, the first obstacle was hurdled.
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The second obstacle was Mayweather himself. A few years ago, Mayweather offered Pacquiao a flat purse of $40 Million over the phone to face off. Pacquiao countered by asking for a 50-50 split which Mayweather turned down. The informal negotiations never went to second base and talk of a Mayweather fight went out the window after Pacquiao suffered back-to-back losses to Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez.
When Pacquiao regrouped to beat Brandon Rios, Bradley and Chris Algieri, he was suddenly back in contention for a shot at Mayweather. Pacquiao was once again the WBO welterweight champion and breathed down Mayweather?s neck in the race up the pound-for-pound ladder as the world?s No. 1 boxer.
Mayweather, however, resisted public clamor for a showdown ? until a twist of fate brought the fighters together for an NBA game between the Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat last Jan. 27. Pacquiao was a judge at the Miss Universe Pageant in Miami two nights before and would?ve left town if not for a storm that cancelled his flight. With nothing on his schedule, Pacquiao decided to watch the game and so did Mayweather who has a home in South Beach.
At halftime, Mayweather and Pacquiao crossed paths. From videos, it appeared that Mayweather blurted a mouthful while Pacquiao quietly listened. The scuttlebutt was Mayweather told Pacquiao it?s not true that he?s dodging a fight. Later, Mayweather visited Pacquiao for an hour in his hotel suite and word leaked that he lectured the Filipino icon on how to do business in boxing.
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What they talked about may never be known but one thing certain is they agreed to fight on Mayweather?s terms. It didn?t matter to Pacquiao who would make more money or where or when the fight would take place. The only thing on his mind was he would finally get the chance to show Mayweather who?s boss. Money wasn?t as much a concern for Pacquiao as cementing his legacy as the people?s champion.
?It?s one of those fortuitous circumstances we couldn?t have planned,? said Showtime Sports executive vice president Stephen Espinoza. ?But we were lucky it happened. That meeting between Floyd and Manny at the Miami Heat game certainly greased the wheels in getting through the final stages of this process.?
Pacquiao?s adviser Michael Koncz said the Miami encounter was the turning point. ?I had met Floyd many times but that was the first time Manny and Floyd got to look at each other, eye to eye,? said Koncz quoted by Norm Frauenheim of The Ring Magazine. ?Once that meeting took place, the tone changed. Everything changed to the positive.?
Whether Pacquiao convinced Mayweather or the other way around is academic. The fact is the champions shook hands and agreed to make the Fight of the Century happen. On May 2, Mayweather and Pacquiao will meet again, this time under the glitzy lights of Las Vegas to determine who?s the real King of the Ring in the Battle for Greatness.
