Come on Floyd Mayweather Jr. do the right thing for the sport and get in the ring with Manny Pacquiao. Because the pay-per-view numbers from his September 17th WBC welterweight title fight with Victor Ortiz recorded the second highest non-heavyweight pay-per-view gross earnings in boxing history, the demand is for Mayweather.
The asking price is not only the purse that Mayweather may command. The request comes from fans that did not get a good outcome with the championship win over Ortiz, but Mayweather once again is a pay-per-view commodity and it showed after a 16-month hiatus. The fight generated over $78,440,000 in PPV revenue and was seen in 1.25 million homes. And this was not Mayweather-Pacquiao that will have no problem exceeding all boxing PPV records.
So when Mayweather says, ?I give the fans everything I have with the best competition and exciting fights,? that leads to speculation. Why is he not in the ring with Pacquiao? We may never know. And perhaps this latest Pay-per-view number, and promoter Bob Arum earlier this week berating Mayweather, will get the undefeated welterweight champion to make the fight a reality.
But Mayweather will command his own show. Pay-per-view numbers and records are good for his ego and financial well-being. The fight with Manny Pacquiao is what fans and the sport, are desperate to see. However, boxing fans and the sport should not depend on a Mayweather meeting with Pacquiao for a revival. Mayweather would prefer meeting Victor Ortiz again, and Pacquiao is in the discussion for meeting undefeated Mike Jones or Diamond Belt middleweight champion Sergio Martinez with the assumption he will prevail in his third fight with Juan Manuel Marquez in two weeks.
Ortiz is enjoying the lifestyle after his fiasco ending of the fight last month. Boxing, right now, is not an emphasis though his thoughts are meeting Mayweather again knowing that the fight brought in good numbers. Ortiz has been avoiding calls and text messages from the media for comment. Through his promoters at Golden Boy, Richard Schaefer, the CEO in particular, the attitude is Mayweather controls the sport when it comes to pay-per-view. And Ortiz is leaving the next step to Schaefer.
When reached for comment, Schaefer said nothing different from a press statement that was released to the media about the PPV numbers from the Ortiz fight. There was no indication about Golden Boy involvement for a possible Mayweather-Ortiz second bout, or any indication that Golden Boy would be a factor in convincing Mayweather that it is time to make the fight with Pacquiao.
