If anyone can get Floyd Mayweather Jnr into the ring with Manny Pacquiao for the richest boxing match of all time it appears it will be a near-octogenarian ex-convict with a manic hairdresser who was born into poverty but with a silver tongue in his mouth to help feed his gargantuan appetite.
Don King will be amused by that description, greeting it with that mischievous chuckle which has supplied the soundtrack to some of the most extravagant promotions in boxing history.
Now this larger-than-life showman – Barnum and Bailey rolled into one over-weight personality under that electrified coiffure – is re-emerging as the potential saviour of the fight the whole world wants to see.
King’s ransom: Money man Don insists he is making the right moves to get Mayweather and Pacquiao together
King has been courting Mayweather in his time-honoured fashion, dining him in high style.
The fighter’s own Twitter page showed him tucking into a giant $500 lobster, as King’s guest at one of the finest sea-food restaurants on the Florida shore.
That was not the only rich meal they shared during several days also spent chewing the fat about where Mayweather goes next in his obsession with trying to prove that it is he, not Pacquiao, who is the greatest pound-for-pound boxer on the planet.
The simple answer is for the two of them to lace up the gloves and fight for that mythical title – and $40million each.
But while everyone else keeps shouting as much in Mayweather’s ear, King is cannily letting Floyd Jnr come to that conclusion all by himself.
Says King: ‘He came to Florida because he wanted to talk. Everybody’s talking about Pacquiao but I’ll let him bring it up. I’m just waiting, being very patient. Understanding people is important. I will respect his digniity and his pride and show him he can make the most money with me.’
Those words will resonate with Mayweather, not least because his take for beating up the ageing Shane Mosley has now been confirmed at $22.5m rather that than the $35m extravagantly predicted on the night.
Trust the most famous – some say infamous – promoter in ring legend to know exactly where to find the key to unlocking a ridiculous impasse.
Pacquiao’s promoter does. Bob Arum is King’s historic rival but he says:’Don and I can get this fight made in a flash. He is the most persuasive guy I’ver ever met and he’ll get this kid to come over. Once he does, we can do the deal in a weekend.’
King chuckles again: ‘Well, give us a week.’
It is unlikely that Mayweather would sign a permanent contract with any promoter. He has never done so with Golden Boy – Oscar De La Hoya’s company – even though they have put together his recent fights such as Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez and our own Ricky Hatton.
But there are suggestions in America that he may be becoming dissatisfied with Golden Boy as well as with his own personal advisors.
Enter Mr Fixit. For the biggest blockbuster of them all. To the unlikely applause of Arum, not least because he finds the new kids on the bloc more irritating than his old enemy.
Richard Schaefer, Golden Boy chief executive, dismisses King’s sudden involvement as ‘no cause for concern,’ but Arum is pitching for the Don.
Too quick: Shane Mosley fails to get out of the way as Mayweather Jnr lets fly in Las Vegas earlier this year
It is almost as if the bitter wrangling between Mayweather and Pacquiao has been manufactured to provide King with a way back into the big time at coming up 79 this month.
The spat began over the money-mad American’s provocative demands that the Filipino Congressman submit to constant drug-testing.
It has descended into legal feuds and a refusal by Mayweather to re-enter negotiations after Pacquiao agreed to give those Olympic standard blood samples.
So while Pacquiao gets ready for an alternative fight on the proposed date of November 13 – against Antonio Margarito – Mayweather is drifting into the arms of King.
Pacquiao applied further pressure on Mayweather last night by suggesting a showdown between them could still take precedence over his alternative bout with Margarito.
The Pacman challenged the Money Man: ‘Let’s get it on. I’ve agreed to more than I should have to get you into the ring, even though I’m the No 1 and you should be chasing me.
‘The contract for a venue for Maragarito is not yet signed so we could still do this on November 13.’
Pacquiao added: ‘I hope that by going to King he is serious about getting our fight made, not just saving face.’
Who better to remind Mayweather that a prolonged vacation is no way to maximise the highest earning point of his career?
This is the key which King started turning even more persuasively on Saturday night.
Crowd pleaser: Pacquiao shows off his belts but everyone wants Mayweather to be his next opponent
He did so by inviting Mayweather to be his guest at ringside in St Louis as his latest protegee, Devon Alexander, beat Andriy Kotelnik to retain his WBC and IBF world light-welterweight championships.
Amir Khan will be encouraged that Alexander – who sustained a badly cut eye – made a lot harder work of outpointing Kotelnik than the boy from Bolton did in winning the WBA version of that world title. But the real main event in St Louis was taking place outside the ropes.
King sat Mayweather alongside two legends he promoted at their zenith. King had his fall-outs with Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield but their presence will have reassured Floyd Jnr that King is still the man with whom to make the most enormous amounts of money.
That comes even as Floyd Jnr’s own company, Mayweather Promotions, is being evicted from its Las Vegas offices over allegations of $63,000 in unpaid rent. Mayweather has issued counter-claims about ‘sub-standard’ accommodation.
But for a man who lives up to his nickname ‘Money’ by spending or throwing away huge amounts of cash, not even the millions he earned from the fight with Mosley will keep him and his fistic family in funds for very long.
So if anyone can persuade Mayweather to risk his cherished unbeaten record in a mega-bout against Pacquiao, probably next April or May, it is the super-salesman of two of the most enormous fights in The Greatest of all careers – Muhammad Ali’s Thrilla in Manilla against Joe Frazier and Rumble in the Jungle with George Foreman.
Love him or loathe him, never write off Don King……and get ready to thank him if he pulls this one off.
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Meanwhile, the venue for Manny Pacquiao’s fight with Antonio Margarito remains the subject of hugely expensive counter-bidding.
With Las Vegas likely to be ruled out by Nevada’s reluctance to re-license Margarito – who was suspended when a trainer padded his hand-wrapping with solid plastic before his fight with Shane Mosley – the offers keep rolling in.
Return to Texas? Pacquiao (right) connects with Joshua Clottey before winning a unanimous decision in Dallas
Pacquiao drew more than 50,000 fans to the first fight in the new stadium in Dallas and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wants him back with a view to even more sports crazy Texans rolling up for the Pacman’s attempt on a record eighth world title in different weight divisions, against a Mexican with his own fan base.
The wealthy Mexican city of Monterrey is also among the front runners, while oil-rich Abu Dhabi have just entered the auction.
