Promoter: Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao Not 'Dead' -- FanHouse

By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse

Top Rank Promotions CEO Bob Arum said that he believed the issue of random drug-testing, specifically, the 14-day cutofff agreed to by Manny Pacquiao, to have been "resolved," adding that all negotiations for a potential bout with Floyd Mayweather were handled "strictly through" HBO's president of Sports, Ross Greenburg, as a mediator to Arum and Mayweather's manager and adviser, Al Haymon.

Those two items were among the subjects Arum discussed with the international media during a midnight, Pacific time, conference call on Friday -- 3 a.m. East Coast Time on Saturday.

The time frame and the date -- July 16 -- were established as the deadline for the unbeaten Mayweather to sign a deal to make a November 13 mega bout between he and Pacquiao, who are regarded as boxing's pound-for-pound best.

That deadline has come and gone with no signature -- and not even a word, publicly -- from Mayweather.

"The deadline is the end of the exclusivity period, because, we now have to go out and secure an opponent for Manny Pacquiao, assuming that it won't be Floyd. We have to go out and mount a campaign. We have to deal with the television networks, and get everything in order," said Arum.

"Time is going by and we have to start scheduling press conferences," said Arum. "Because in Manny Pacquiao, I'm not dealing with the normal kind of fighter. He's over in the Philippines, first of all, and, second of all, he has his duties -- which he takes very seriously -- as a congressman in the Philippines."

Arum had said that if the 33-year-old Mayweather (41-0, 25 knockouts) had not signed by midnight on July 16, then the 31-year-old Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs), holder of the WBO's welterweight (147 pounds) title, would seek a deal to go after his eighth crown in as many different weight classes against either WBA junior middleweight (154 pounds) champion, Miguel Cotto, or ex-titlist, Antonio Margarito.

Margarito and Pacquia would meet for the WBC junior middlweight crown vacated by Sergio Martinez, said Arum.

Arum said that he will now begin negotiating with Cotto and Margarito, adding that he hopes to have a deal wrapped up within the next 10 days.

Still, Arum would consider ending negotiations with Cotto and Margarito -- providing that a deal had not been reached in principle with either -- if Mayweather "came to the table" and decided to face Pacquiao based on the already agreed upon terms.

"People have asked me if this means that the negotiations for a Floyd Mayweather fight are dead. And even though Mayweather hasn't responded by the deadline, my answer is a simple one. It's dead when we conclude a deal with an opponent for Manny's fight in November," said Arum, who would then try to make a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight for perhaps May of 2011.

"And then, we're contractually bound to do that fight, and we would look hopefully to do a fight with Floyd next year," said Arum. "But if, in the interim, while this was going on, Floyd suddenly emerged and said 'Yes,' he wanted to do the fight, then there would be nothing opposed to getting together and doing the fight."

During the call, Arum indicated that all negotiations were handled through Greenburg, who then forwarded all information -- including contracts signed by Pacquiao -- to Haymon.

Arum said that he never actually spoke to Haymon, nor, members of Golden Boy Promotions, whose president, Oscar De La Hoya, and, CEO, Richard Schaefer, had been promoting Mayweather's fights.

"About two months ago, a few days after the Mayweather-Shane Mosley fight, I got a call from Ross Greenburg, the president of HBO sports, who asked me frankly whether myself or Manny Pacquiao wanted to do the fight against Floyd Mayweather. I assured him that yes, I had talked to Manny, and that was the case," said Arum.

"And, from there, I had a couple of conversations with Ross, and I laid out all of the terms that would be acceptable to our side and I also informed him about the concession that Manny had made about the drug-testing," said Arum. "He got back to me in a couple of weeks, and told me that he had had discussions with Al Haymon, representing Floyd Mayweather, and that everything looked good, and we were nearing a resolution."

Arum said that he assumed Haymon had been informing Schaefer and De La Hoya of the process from public statements De La Hoya made that the deal was "close" to being completed.

It was through Greenburg that Arum was being informed that the negotiations were "going well" with Haymon, and that the potential for Mayweather-Pacquiao was real. At no time has Arum spoken to Mayweather or his other adviser, Leonard Ellerbe.

"Ross, for the past two months, has said that Haymon had been working very, very hard to the agreement of Floyd Mayweather. A couple of weeks ago, I told him that, 'Look, I wanted to do this fight very badly, and so did Manny, but at a particular point in time, we'd have to move on,'" said Arum. "I told Ross that this Friday was our deadline for the end of the exclusivity period, and I tell you that next week, we will talk to the Cotto camp and the Margarito camp regarding a fight with Manny Pacquiao."

Arum and Pacquiao's adviser, Michael Koncz, believe, however, that Mayweather had "valid reasons" for not signing.

"Ross was committed to make the fight happen, and, as head of HBO sports, I figured that the best chance to make the fight happen was to do everything through Ross -- almost like he was the mediator. And I still believe that it was the right way to go," said Arum.

"It obviously didn't work out, not because Ross didn't do a good job. He did, in talking to myself and to Al Haymon," said Arum. "But obviously, the problem was that Floyd, for whatever reason -- and I'm sure that he had some valid reasons -- didn't want to committ."

Arum speculated that those reasons had to do with legal troubles involving his uncle and long-time trainer, Roger Mayweather.

Roger Mayweather goes on trial in Clark County District Court in Nevada on Aug. 2 on an assault charge stemming from his allegedly choking and assaulting female boxer Melissa St. Vil last year, and could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted -- meaning that he might not be available for a November fight.

Although Arum said that Mexico and Abu Dhabi were being considered as potential bouts for the fight, he indicated that Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates -- despite the "cooperative" efforts of that country's officials -- would not be advantageous, "logistically."

For that reason, Arum said that either The Dallas Cowboys' Stadium or the MGM Grand in Las Vegas would be more suitable for a bout between Pacquiao and Cotto, while the MGM and Monterrey, Mexico, would be more appropriate for a Margarito fight.

"The attraction for the Cotto rematch would be that Manny's going for a title, fighting at a higher weight, and that Miguel would have Emanuel Steward in his corner, one of the great corner men of our time. That certainly would give Cotto more ammuntion going into the fight than he had last time," said Arum, referring to the fact that Pacquiao dethroned Cotto as WBO welterweight champ by 12th-round knockout in November.

Margarito still is not licensed in America, stemming from a year-long suspension by the California State Athletic Commission involving an illegal hand-wrapping scandal following his January, 2009, ninth-round knockout loss to Mosley.

Margarito unsuccessfully attempted to become licensed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission recently, but the NSAC tabled its decision and requested that Margarito first attempt to be re-licensed in California. That could be difficult, however, because Margarito has filed a lawsuit against that state.

To that end, Arum has said that he has applied through the NSAC for a "Conditional," or, temporary license that would allow Margarito to fight on Nov. 13 in Las Vegas, and that he is hopeful of leniency by that commission.

"Well, number one, we've ask for the Nevada Commission, based on California putting it off, to give [Margarito] a conditional license to fight in Nevada on the 13th of November. Hopefully, from Margarito's standpoint, they will agree to that. If not, then if Manny decides that he wants Margarito, we would do the fight in Monterrey, Mexico. Manny would do the fight outside of the United States," said Arum.

"We wouldn't need a signed contract [from Cotto or Margarito.] If Manny committed and I committed to either Cotto or Margarito, and they committed to me, then it would be a deal. A signed contract would be later," said Arum. "But while these negotiations are going on, and while I was talking to Manny, if Floyd came to the table, that's the fight that we want more than all others -- no question about it."

Source: boxing.fanhouse.com