Arum optimistic, De La Hoya says it's almost done, but Ariza believes Mayweather won't fight Pacquiao

By Ronnie Nathanielsz, PhilBoxing.com

While Top Rank promoter Bob Arum remains optimistic and Golden Boy Promotions Oscar De La Hoya claims a mega-buck fight between pound-for-pound king and “Fighter of the Decade” Manny Pacquiao and undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr is almost done, Pacquiao’s conditioning expert Alex Ariza believes it won’t happen because Mayweather doesn’t want to lose.

Ariza said the report that Mayweather was going to take “a little bit of time off ” and the fact that the Nevada State Athletic Commission “slammed the door on the US Anti Doping Agency” by indicating that random drug testing is not going to be a part of the pre and post-fight procedure is certain to make it more difficult to arrive at an agreement.

Ariza stressed what he’s always said and that Mayweather “is afraid to fight Pacquiao.” He said a defeat at the hands of Pacquiao would mean that “for the rest of his life Mayweather will always be associated with the biggest fight in boxing history as the loser of that fight. He wouldn’t be able to deal with that.”

The conditioning guru said “I don’t think you can put a price on that and I think Mayweather is afraid of that (losing) because being undefeated is the only thing that validates Mayweather in his heart and in the sport.”

Given this possibility Ariza said a rematch with newly crowned WBA light middleweight champion Miguel Cotto “is very likely” stating that Pacquiao can win his eighth title in eight different divisions and solidify his position as the greatest fighter. He said fighting Antonio Margarito was also an option and “would be a good fight for us” even as he mentioned Juan Manuel Marquez as another possible opponent.

Asked whether fighting Cotto at 154 pounds would be difficult for Pacquiao, Ariza replied “I don’t think so. I think Manny can knockout Cotto at 154.”

Pacquiao scored a dominating 12th round TKO over Cotto to win the Puerto Rican’s WBO welterweight title and the WBC “Diamond Belt” last November and Ariza feels the extra weight won’t make a difference.

Arum who has been quietly striving to reach and agreement with Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer on a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight said the other day he was still “optimistic” that it could be done.

Oscar De La Hoya on the other hand was far more direct saying "I can't talk right now in detail about the negotiations but I can say that we are very close.

Up until now, it's been a very difficult negotiation process for various reasons but right now we're very close.”

De La Hoya added "I think right now we are very, very close in finalizing the contracts.

"It's going to be a big, big fight!"

Source: philboxing.com

It's not Manny Pacquiao's BWAA awards that hurts Boxing, it's the Mayweathers that hurt boxing -- Examiner

By Rick Rockwell, Examiner.com

The latest comments by Floyd Mayweather Sr have officially cemented his status as "mentally insane" in my opinion. You'd think that we'd be used to the personal attacks toward Manny Pacquiao, but it seems that these Mayweathers keep outdoing their previous comments. In Floyd Sr's latest illogical rant, he says that not only doesn't Manny deserve to be fighter of the decade, but his winning of this prestigious award is what hurts boxing. Let's examine Floyd Sr's comments further:

The following Floyd Mayweather Sr quotes are from an interview with Fighthype.com:

'What award they gonna give my son when he whoops Pacquiao'

First of all, we're not even sure if Floyd Mayweather Jr will fight Manny Pacquiao. Last we heard, Floyd Jr was taking 1-2 years off. Personally, I wish Floyd Mayweather Sr would take 1-2 years off from talking to the media. But, if Floyd Jr does win, the he would deserve pound-for-pound best fighter and potentially the BWAA's 'Fighter of the Year" award.

Once again insults Manny

Floyd Mayweahter Sr, doesn't just believe Manny shouldn't have won the award, he goes onto publicly insult the man:

"Pacquiao ain't no fu*king fighter of the decade. He is a pu*sy,"
I would love for Floyd Mayweather Sr to back up this comment with something logical. Manny has fought tougher fights throughout his career than any member of the Mayweather family.

Comparing Records

"Pacquiao has 2 draws and a loss in this decade. Lil Floyd is undefeated in this decade and in his career. On top of that, Pacquiao beat 2 guys Lil Floyd already beat and struggled twice with a guy Floyd blanked out 12 rounds to nothing," Mayweather Sr.

Floyd fought 7 less fights, won less titles, and retired for over 1 year in the decade. How does that justify "Fighter of the Decade" honors. Also, Floyd Jr fought an older and much smaller Juan Manuel Marquez last year. How about we actually compare what the Floyd Jr and Manny did against Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton since Floyd Sr brought it up?

Manny Pacquiao thoroughly dominated both fighters and sent both Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton into permanent retirement. Mayweahter Jr had to go into the late rounds just to get a victory. If you look at the performances from these fights, they clearly favor Pacquiao. It's a foolish argument from a foolish man.

Hurting Boxing

"That's the kind of sh*t that hurts boxing. It makes no sense. Too many people in the sport don't know what the fu*k's going on. That kind of sh*t right there is why boxing stays on the ropes" Mayweather Sr, Fighthype.com

What actually hurts boxing is having people like the Mayweathers publicly bashing another fighter. What actually hurts boxing is having people like Floyd Mayweather Jr only care about "money" and publicly denying his interest in the fans. What actually hurts boxing is having the Mayweathers falsely accuse Manny Pacquiao of taking PEDs.

I can keep going. What hurts boxing is how the Mayweathers discriminate and make racial comments toward Manny Pacquiao and Filipinos. What hurts boxing is having people like the Mayweathers commit felony crimes like assaulting women and drug possession.

What hurts boxing is people like the Mayweathers who tell the public that they're going to clean up the sport of boxing from cheaters and drug usage, but once they collect their paycheck they run back to their holes and forget all about their supposed "drug crusade".

Conclusion

For the life of me, I don't understand how these individuals can continue to bash Manny Pacquiao without any legal repercussions. They have no regard for the lawsuit hanging over their heads. The constant attacks are becoming increasingly disturbing with each foul-mouthed comment. Whatever logical or legitimate concern that they might have had has been destroyed by ignorant and discriminating attacks.

Source: examiner.com