By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse
Seven-division titlist Manny Pacquaio could defend his WBO welterweight (147 pounds) belt against perennial contender Joshua Clottey on March 13, most likely at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum told FanHouse Friday afternoon.
"That's what we're working on right now, and that's what it looks like it's going to be," said Arum, Pacquiao's promoter. "We're looking to finalize things with Joshua Clottey, and we're hoping to have it done in a couple of hours."
A native of Accra, Ghana, Clottey (35-3, 20 KOs) is a big-bodied, sinewy, accurate-punching welterweight with a resolute chin who has been often avoided because of his durability.
Clottey was last in the ring in June, where he lost a disputed 12-round split-decision to Miguel Cotto. Pacquiao stopped Cotto in the 12th round on Nov. 14.
Pacquiao-Clottey would replace the originally-scheduled matchup between the 31-year-old Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 knockouts) of the Philippines, and 32-year-old five-time champion Floyd Mayweather (40-0,25 KOs), of Las Vegas, that was slated for March 13 at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
But Arum said that the negotiations for the highly-anticipated Mayweather-Pacquiao bout, which reportedly could have earned upwards of $40 million for both fighters, have been mired in a holdup over the implementation of blood and urinalysis drug-testing for both combatants.
Mayweather's camp, represented in the negotations by Golden Boy Promotions, has indicated that it wanted each fighter to be open to random blood testing up to 14 days before the fight as well as afterward -- a compromise on its original assertion that it wanted checking all the way up to the bout.
Pacquiao's camp did not want to have blood drawn any closer than 24 days before the fight.
The Mayweather-Pacquiao talks failed on Wednesday after two days of mediation.
Parties for Arum's Top Rank -- including his stepson, Todd duBoef, and CEO Richard Schaefer -- and Oscar De La Hoya, president of Golden Boy Promotions, which represents Mayweather, met for nine hours on Tuesday with their lawyers present in the Santa Monica office of federal judge and mediator Daniel Weinstein.
On Wednesday, the discussions took place with the Top Rank participants in their offices, and the Golden Boy reps in theirs, and still were not resolved.
But Schaefer told The Los Angeles Times.that he is still hopeful that a compromise can be reached.
"We're still trying to get Mayweather-Pacquiao done for March 13, and we've heard Manny has made claims that the position of Floyd willing to end blood tests 14 days before the fight was never communicated to him," Schaefer, told The Times. "Mayweather wants to split it down the middle to 14 days. Isn't that reasonable?"
Prior to Clottey, newly-crowned WBA junior middleweight (154 pounds) champion Yuri Foreman (28-0, eight KOs) of New York was considered as a replacement for Mayweather.
But the 5-foot-6 Pacquiao, who would be after his eighth crown in as many weight classes against Foreman, preferred not to face Foreman citing a height disadvantage against the 5-11 New Yorker. Pacquiao made his decision after having watched videos of Foreman.
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
No comments:
Post a Comment