The handful of people still hoping against hope that Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao may someday fight can, as of today, officially stop hoping.
Bob Arum announced, to no one?s surprise, that Manny Pacquiao has extended his promotional agreement with Top Rank through December 31, 2016.
Pacquiao will have five more fights before (1) either retiring to devote himself full-time to politics or (2) re-upping with Bob Arum for another hitch.
?We are pleased,? said Arum, ?that together with our partners at HBO we will continue presenting to the public fights of the great Manny Pacquiao through the end of 2016.?
That pounding sound you hear isn?t hearts thumping in chests. It?s the final nail in the coffin of a fight that might have helped define two great legacies.
?The partnership among Manny, Top Rank, MP Promotions and HBO has been a wonderful one for all parties and for the public,? Arum continued, ?and it?s great that is will continue for the years to come.?
Arum has done right by Pacquiao. The skinny Asian kid no one ever heard of has been transformed, with Bob Arum?s able assistance, into a global sensation. The promoter can make nice with De La Hoya if he wishes, but Richard Schaefer and Floyd Mayweather would rather die than do business with Bob Arum.
And thus the cookie crumbles.
