Bob Arum: Uncle's legal troubles might keep Floyd Mayweather from fighting Manny Pacquiao this fall -- Grand Rapids Press

By David Mayo, The Grand Rapids Press

Boxing promoter Bob Arum, who last week said Manny Pacquiao had agreed to all of Floyd Mayweather's demands for a fight between boxing's top two performers, speculated Tuesday that the biggest hurdle to such a fight could be timing.

Arum said he wonders whether Mayweather, the unbeaten Grand Rapids native, might eschew a proposed Nov. 13 fight until the fate of his uncle and trainer, Roger Mayweather, is decided.

Roger Mayweather is scheduled to go on trial next month in a battery case involving a female boxer he once trained.

"The big issue is, does Floyd want to fight this year or next year," Arum said.

Arum said that issue was not broached during the recent negotiations but refused to disclose what was.

"I'm not talking about what we were discussing," he said.

Both sides are under a self-imposed gag order not to discuss any potential negotiations.

Arum declined even to disclose with whom he was negotiating. Talks last year between Top Rank president and Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer failed, as did further talks between two other representatives of those companies.

There has been some speculation that Arum might have negotiated directly with Al Haymon, the Mayweather business adviser who does not speak to the media. Arum has spoken heatedly and pointedly in the past about Haymon's ability to operate and negotiate at the highest levels of boxing without being formally licensed.

Arum has refused to negotiate with Haymon in the past, but when asked Tuesday if the negotiations with Mayweather precluded him from dealing directly with Haymon, he replied, "No."

"If I ever made that statement (about not negotiating with Haymon), I never said 'never,' " Arum said.

The Pacquiao side has set a mid-July deadline for Mayweather to answer its final offer for the proposed November fight.

"We want an answer by mid-July, whether to fight or not fight," Arum said. "Without setting a hard and fast deadline, we want to know by the end of next week."

E-mail David Mayo: dmayo@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/David_Mayo

Source: mlive.com