Attention freak Floyd Mayweather has us all exactly where he wants us.
And, an insider says, Mayweather is going to say “yes” to a Nov. 13 Super Fight against Pinoy Idol Manny Pacquiao.
The worldwide focus of all those who care about boxing and about Pacquiao is fixed on what the undefeated Mayweather does this week.
It’s not only Pacman promoter Bob Arum repeatedly saying, to me and to others, that The Decision must be made by Saturday on whether ?Money May? will fight the Filipino on Nov. 13 in Las Vegas.
On Sunday, I spoke with a source ?inside? Golden Boy Promotions, a source more than familiar with how the situation stands as you read this.
?Promoters on both sides feel they have a fair deal on the table. Promoters on both sides of the table have urged their boxer to sign the deal and move forward. Pacman is good to go and the only thing left to make the Super Fight a reality is for Mayweather to say ?yes,? to affix his signature to the bout contract.
?Everything has been hashed and rehashed, including random blood testing. There are zero issues to be debated back and forth. Either Mayweather picks up his pen and puts down his John Hancock or he doesn’t but, if for reason he doesn’t, both Golden Boy and his adviser Al Haymon will be disgusted,? the source told me.
“They worked hard and they worked quietly. Arum and Haymon may despise each other but they dug in their heels and put together a mutually beneficial deal that both sides are happy to have.
“Do you think Mayweather will now spit in the face of his trusted advisers and, maybe more importantly, in the face of HBO?”
Stephen Jackson Boxing Memorabilia Collection – Michael Marley, who boldly predicted Irish Gerry Cooney would wreck Ken Norton in one round and got it exactly right, now says Floyd Mayweather will put pen to paper this week and sign to fight Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13 in Las Vegas
This is the first time that anyone on the Golden/Mayweather side of the negotiations has admitted that a great deal is sitting in Mayweather’s lap and that his own braintrust is urging him to ink the contract.
SEE SCOOP MALINOWSKI ON HBO DUMPING MAYWEATHER IF HE SAYS NO TO MANNY.
Not that Arum is not an inveterate truthteller.
Me, I have consistently predicted that Mayweather will put pen to paper, thus mightily disappointing his legion of haters, regardless of their nationality.
Mayweather and Pacquiao will share, it is said, up to $40 million each in the richest boxing match ever.
I know the doubters remain but Mayweather will step up.
The egomaniac will probably do so with some with dramatic flourish but step up he will.
Maybe we’ll hear something typically haughty like this:
?People keep talking about Pacquiao can beat me and that is ridiculous. I am 41-0 and this will be easy work for me. Manny may be popular, I guess he is from what they tell me. But he is not on my level because no one is.
?I am an all time great and you will see this in living color on Nov. 13 when I take this boy to school! I will flunk him like I flunked all the others!?
I will not be proven wrong as self interest will carry the day.
This is my easiest boxing prediction since I brilliantly forecast the result of the Ken Norton-Irish Gerry Cooney heavyweight title bout on May 11, 1981 at Madison Square Garden. I was scribbling for The New York Post in those days.
I knew Cooney was tearing sparmates up in the gym. Then I found out that Norton, who had a mighty fear of big punchers and for good reason, could barely walk. Norton was looking terrible in training camp, apparently on his last legs.
Fans walking into the Garden that night were buying a late afternoon edition of The Post which stunned some.
We tricked up a photo to go with my column and the banner headline was ?COONEY KOS NORTON IN ONE.?
I stood outside a dressing room chatting with amiable Angelo Dundee when Norton henchman Bobby Goodman upbraided me.
Goodman waved the newspaper and the offending photo in my face.
?I hope you like eating newsprint, Marley,? a redfaced Goodman shouted. ?You will eat your words.?
I was atypically calm and I said, ?Bobby, I would prefer a nice filet mignon.?
Goodman walked away furious.
Ref Tony Perez halted the fight 54 seconds into the opening round, a battered Norton laying below the bottom rope, a human wreckage after a Cooney onslaught.
Goodman never bought me my steak but we patched things up over time.
Now it’s Mayweather’s time.
He will sign and he and Megamanny will fight Nov. 13.
Pacquiao wants the fight and Mayweather cannot afford to turn it down.
After all, it’s ?easy work? for $40 million, right?
