By Josh Slagter, The Grand Rapids Press
With obstacles such as random blood testing and purse split, a potential megafight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao -- negotiations that already had failed once -- looked as if it'd never come to fruition.
It still may not happen, but, according to Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, the two sides have agreed on all terms and only Mayweather's final approval is needed to finalize the Nov. 13 fight, which likely would be in Las Vegas.
Arum told Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole the ball is in Mayweather's court on whether or not he wants to fight again this year.
“The question is whether Mayweather is willing to go into the ring this year. It’s up to him," Arum said. "His people would love him to do it. He may not want to do it. If Mayweather wants to fight in November, I believe the fight will be made. To me it seems -- it seems, and say that, because I’m not Mayweather -- that the only issue is whether he wants to fight in November.”
Mayweather, who is coming off a dominating unanimous decision victory over Shane Mosley in May, has demanded random blood and urine testing for all future fights and even suggested he wouldn't accept a 50/50 purse split with Pacquiao, something the two sides agreed upon during the first negotiations.
Arum told Iole all of those issues have been resolved.
“It may be that Floyd wants to fight in May, in which case (Pacquiao will) fight (another opponent) in November and fight him in May," Arum said. "I am not going to talk about the specifics of the negotiations. You have my statement that there are no real issues that I can see, except whether he wants to fight now or later or not at all."
Arum reiterated that stance to Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix, saying the offer that's on the table now is good for next year, if needed.
"Nobody is under any obligation to fight this year," Arum said. "He may need more time. When he is ready, we are prepared to do the fight."
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, who has represented the Mayweather camp in negotiations, cited an agreement the two sides had earlier this year to not speak about negotiations with the media after Iole apprised him of Arum's most recent comments.
“My reaction is no comment,” Schaefer said. “I really can’t say anything. I won’t comment in any way, shape or form. You know this and anybody who has called me knows this: The only two words I’m going to say when I’m asked about this are ‘No comment.’ That’s my comment. No comment.”
Arum told Mannix that Mayweather has until mid-July to accept the fight, otherwise he may move on to Antonio Margarito or a rematch with Miguel Cotto.
“As far as I’m concerned, we have two guys (Margarito and Cotto) in the wings who could make attractive fights for Manny, though they are certainly not as attractive as a Mayweather fight,” Arum said. “But I don’t want to talk about (Margarito and Cotto). I want to make sure there is no chance for this Mayweather fight to happen this year before I talk about any other fight."
Source: mlive.com
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