After accepting Manny Pacquiao’s fight challenge on live TV interview, unbeaten champ Floyd Mayweather has failed to agree on certain issues concerning the timing and venue which could prompt him to walk away from the fight for good.
While Mayweather had stated that he will fight Pacquiao on May 2, he still has to agree on other contentious issues that would lead to a mutually beneficial arrangement. Among other things, Mayweather and Pacquiao should agree on the details of the random blood and urine testing, purse sharing, timing and venue of the fight. Jubilant fight fans celebrated when Mayweather announced his decision to face Pacquiao in the ring on May 2 but shortly thereafter, Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum rejected his proposed May 2 fight date saying that it will coincide with Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican independence gathering that will make the potential Canelo Alvarez-Miguel Cotto fight fitting for this special Mexican occasion. Read more: While Arum and Mayweather are quarreling over the date and venue of the fight, so much time had already been wasted since Pacquiao proved his worthiness as Mayweather’s next opponent when he knocked down Chris Algieri at least six times to win a unanimous verdict in his favor. At this point, only four months is left for the two side to agree on the terms of the fight, undergo four to six weeks of training and promote the fight. Any knowledgeable promoter would say that four months isn’t enough to make all the preparations for the fight if the goal is to surpass the record-breaking pay-per-view (PPV) revenue attained by Mayweather against Oscar de la Hoya in 2007. Arum may be right when he said that June 2015 would be the best time to stage the super fight to give the promoters enough time to recover their investments by way of generating more revenues from gate sales and PPV buys. Still, six months is barely enough to attain all the inputs necessary to make the fight financially viable for the promoters as well as the fighters and other stakeholders. Even for a June 2015 fight date, it would still be difficult for the promoters to generate the huge revenue needed if the fight contract is not signed in early January. Seemingly the May 2 fight schedule proposed by Mayweather is no longer workable as far as attaining the revenue target is concerned. While the parties are fighting on the timing of the fight?obviously for selfish motivations? Mayweather could find a valid reason (or alibi?) to walk away from the fight. He can now tell his critics that he had done his part by agreeing to fight Pacquiao on May 2 but Arum opted to decline.
