By David Mayo, The Grand Rapids PressThe sports world has become so besotted with the intoxicating thought of Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao that the possibility it might not happen -- again -- has been set aside for a fortnight or so.
Perhaps, within the next week, Mayweather will leap forward and exclaim that Nov. 13 is fine by him, the money is right, drug-testing terms are right, just show him the dotted line to sign.
Las Vegas will go giddy. The fight will be on. And boxing will become the center of the sports universe during the penultimate month of the year.No, it isn't a given.
Last week, Bob Arum, who promotes Pacquiao, said his side had agreed to all of Mayweather's terms for the biggest fight in boxing and one of the biggest potential events in all of sports.
Jubilation took hold.
This, despite the fact we know little about what terms Arum referred to -- those in place last December, which Mayweather steadfastly has said no longer are applicable, or a new set of terms?
This, despite absolute silence from the Mayweather camp about what its plans are, save for the Grand Rapids native's unspecified plan to take some extended time away from boxing after his May 1 win over Shane Mosley.
This, despite a deadline set for next week by the Pacquiao camp for Mayweather to accept or reject the cloudy terms, for a fight date likewise set by Pacquiao.
Absolutely, cooler heads and common sense could lead to boxing's biggest possible event after a similar proposal failed last winter.
But first, a couple irrefutable facts.
One, among boxing powerbrokers Mayweather least wants speaking on his behalf, Arum and Oscar De La Hoya top the list. So it was interesting that the only two people who have said much about Mayweather-Pacquiao talks are Arum, in his statement last week, and De La Hoya, who last month told a Spanish television network that an agreement was near, then said he was misquoted. In a taped television interview. Really, Oscar?
Both statements generated a flurry of Internet traffic in the never-ending effort to generate pennies-per-click revenue streams but, as yet, no signed contract.
Arum said the purse split would be 50-50, a term to which Mayweather adamantly has said he will not agree.
Then again, wink wink, in pay-per-view boxing, 50-50 does not equate to an even split. There can be extreme disparities in television proceeds, depending upon how percentages are set. And while there is always a minimum threshold of sales that must be reached before those percentages take effect, there also can be a maximum threshold at which one party has his take substantially reduced or eliminated.
And what about Olympic-style drug testing, the issue that scrapped their proposed March fight? In the failed talks last winter, Mayweather's last offer was a 14-day cutoff before the event, during which there would be no pre-fight blood testing. But Mayweather has been earnest since then in saying that offer no longer applies.
Arum said Pacquiao has agreed to all of Mayweather's demands. But which demands -- the old ones, or the new ones?
The mid-July deadline for a decision, four months before the fight date, is sensible.
In the next few days, we should learn whether the excitement of the last week was equally well-reasoned.
Unequivocally, the Mayweather camp never expected the Pacquiao camp to make this fight for November. It expected Arum to frame this so it appears Pacquiao was forced to find a backup plan because of Mayweather's reluctance, then have the Filipino star fight either Antonio Margarito or Miguel Cotto instead, both of whom Arum promotes.
If it goes down that way, there will be plenty of finger-pointing from both sides.
All we know with certainty is that a decision is forthcoming, and the only one who possesses any more inside knowledge than that is named Floyd Mayweather.
E-mail David Mayo: dmayo@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/David_Mayo
Source: mlive.com
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