Manny Pacquiao wants Floyd Mayweather. There’s no doubt in my mind that the 8-division world champ and future hall of famer is earnest and honest in his desire to face the controversial pound for pound top dog.
What is not so clear, though, is how much the other members of Team Pacquiao actually want this mega-bout and how honest they’ve been with their fighter about efforts to actually make the fight.
There was a time, believe it or not, when Pacquiao-Mayweather was possible and actually being pursued by both parties.
The brief window of opportunity was open toward the end of 2009 when both parties were actually talking and willing to communicate despite the bad blood that existed between Mayweather and his former promoter, Bob Arum. As a matter of fact, negotiations were surprisingly easily with Mayweather unexpectedly and quickly agreeing to a contractual weight stipulation as well as a 50-50 purse split.
The end of the feel-good negotiations came when Mayweather insisted on his own contractual stipulation– random blood testing for performance enhancing drugs.
Mayweather’s demand immediately sent Team Pacquiao into panic mode and effectively killed any semblance of good natured talks between both parties. Although both sides would go to arbitration to try and salvage the fight, nothing could be sorted out. Ultimately, Team Pacquiao’s unwillingness to compromise on the blood testing issue ended negotiations. Since then, contrary to questionable media reports from partisan reporters, no real efforts have been made to work things out or once again revisit negotiations.
The problem is that while members of Team Pacquiao have been moving away from the mega-fight, Manny, himself, seems to be under the impression that they’ve been working extra hard to get Mayweather in the ring.
“If the fight doesn’t happen, it’s not my fault,” Pacquiao would recently tell the press. “I’m not going to accuse him of being greedy or judge him. It’s hard to judge. It’s his title, it’s his life, (but) I believe he is avoiding me.”
If Pacquiao sounds puzzled and disappointed by the lack of progress in making this fight, it might be because he is genuinely puzzled and disappointed.
And who can blame him?
His promoter, Arum, has talked a good game, but has never once taken any real steps toward making the bout. After each Pacquiao outing, Arum brings up the prospect of a Mayweather fight, but never pursues it and always, not surprisingly, falls back on a hand-picked, in-house opponent for his cash cow.
Back in the Summer of 2010, Arum even went so far as to issue a fake ultimatum for Mayweather to sign on against Pacquiao, only later to admit that he had never actually spoken to anyone from Mayweather’s promotional team. At the end of the day, it all turned out to be a gigantic media manipulation and, really, just ingenious promotion for a Pacquiao bout with Antonio Margarito.
Throughout the entire cat and mouse game of nearly three years, Pacquiao has seen fake stories leaked to the press, bogus negotiations offered up as proof, and just a general confusion over whether his team is there to make the fight or not.
Mayweather, for his part, has been mostly ambivalent on the issue, not caring to entertain a Pacquiao bout unless its on his terms. And as time has passed, he has become even more stubborn in his insistence on dictating the terms.
But despite this, one gets the feeling that if they were left on their own, Manny and Floyd would find a way to make the fight. Don’t ever buy the silliness that elite-level prizefighters are “scared” of any specific opponent.
The real culprits in this fight-killing mess are likely the same ones who whisper in Manny’s ear and ensure him that Mayweather is being pursued while, really, they want to keep the two as far apart as possible.
