Fans are begging for it, boxing writers have written 147,013 articles about it, promoters are hinting of it, but it’s still the proverbial dangling carrot that always seems just out of reach.
It’s time for this fight to either happen or not.
Freddie Roach told the Associated Press on Monday that new negotiations will start this week. Bob Arum has said that the fight has to happen. And Mayweather’s adviser, Leonard Ellerbe, said that they aren’t really interested in negotiating for the mega-fight at this point.
What the heck is really going on? Does anybody really know? Yes, but they’re keeping it quiet. This time around there’s a gag order, and that’s probably as it should be.
So here is article 147,014, written in hypothetical fashion, without any pretense of knowledge of whether or not the fight will ever take place.
AP Photo
Reasons it might not happen:
1. Congressman Manny Pacquiao
Jeff Farar is a boxing fan who lives in Fayetteville. Even though he’s only a casual fan, he is familiar with Pacquiao’s endeavors.
“Pacquiao is entering politics? Acting, singing, boxing, and now politics?” Farar asked.
Pacquiao is accustomed to juggling several activities at once, but just how much can he really do at one time? Pacquiao has been hinting at retirement for some time now. One has to wonder at this point if his heart is really still in boxing, and mixing national politics with the multifaceted politics of boxing might even prove to be too much for Pacquiao.
2. Purse split
Pacquiao’s last bout with Joshua Clottey generated about 700,000 PPV buys, while Mayweather vs. Mosley is expected to tally at around 1.2 million. It’s highly likely that ?Money? Mayweather will want a larger share of the purse than the previously agreed upon 50/50 split.
AP Photos
3. Random drug testing
Pacquiao says there’s no way he’ll allow the vampires to come and suck blood any time they feel like it, and Mayweather said that if there’s no random testing ?Then we don’t got no fight?.
Many have speculated that the two will meet somewhere in the middle of the two extremes, but this didn’t happen before and it’s possible that it may not happen again. This is rightfully perceived to be the biggest obstacle that stands in the way of the fight.
Even with the presense of those three obstacles, there’s still much reason for hope. Reports from Michael Marley, and others, indicate that negotiations are silently taking place.
