Assuming ?the deal? isn?t dead already, it?s hard to believe that provoking Arum will bring the superfight to fruition?
?God works wonders now and then; Behold a lawyer, an honest man.??Benjamin Franklin
While everyone is waiting for Floyd Mayweather to agree to fight Manny Pacquiao, it appears that Manny?s promoter, Top Rank?s Bob Arum, may have been blowing smoke all along.
Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President/General Manager of Showtime Sports and Event Programming, spoke with boxingscene.com to set the record straight. Much of that tortuous record was made public by boxingscene.com, so it?s ironic that the august website is correcting both Arum and itself?assuming, of course, that Espinoza, who may have an ax to grind, is speaking the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
?Floyd isn?t holding anything up,? said Espinoza. ?Nobody is waiting for Floyd for anything. Arum isn?t being truthful and he knows it. There is no contract that is awaiting Floyd?s signature and Bob Arum knows that too. Floyd has been absolutely clear with is throughout this process?he wants to fight Manny Pacquiao. He has repeatedly told Leslie Moonves, Al Haymon and me that he wants us to make the fight and that?s what we?ve been working for, for weeks.?
After five years of excuses misstatements, broken promises, and all manner of fancy footwork, it?s hard to take Espinoza?s statements regarding Floyd at face value. That is not to side with Arum, who?s Clintonian ?Yesterday I was lying, but today I?m telling the truth? colors everything he says. It?s just that picking sides on this matter, without a polygraph or truth serum, is guesswork at best, an exercise in futility at worst.
?We?re make good progress,? added Espinoza, ?but there are still open issues that need to be resolved. There is no agreement or closed deal or contracts. Neither CBS or Showtime of Al Haymon of HBO for that matter have agreed on deal terms. We are still trying to resolve the issues. That?s what?s taking time?not any delay or impediment by Floyd. No one is waiting on Floyd for anything. For Arum to say otherwise is an outright misrepresentation.?
One lawyer accusing another lawyer of ?misrepresentation? is a good one.
?It makes you wonder,? Espinoza concluded. ?When you hear these types of misrepresentations?someone who wants to make a deal doesn?t go out and publicly misrepresent the status of the negotiations. Maybe Floyd and Ariza are right?maybe Bob Arum is going to be the reason this fight doesn?t happen. If he continues to misrepresent and mischaracterize the status of the negotiations, he may end up killing the deal.?
Assuming ?the deal? isn?t dead already, it?s hard to believe that provoking Arum, with or without justification, will bring the superfight to fruition.
