Arum agrees to Mayweather-Pacquiao fight taking place on May 2nd

01/14/201501/13/2015 Rob Smith

After initially giving Floyd Mayweather Jr grieve about staging a fight between him and Manny Pacquiao on the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo on May 2nd, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has given the green light for the fight to take place on this date. However, Arum pretty much had no other choice after Pacquiao told him that he was fine with facing Mayweather on that date.

Arum didn’t want to have the fight take place on May 2nd because he felt that this was a Mexican date and saw Mayweather as poaching the date from Mexican fighters like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Some boxing fans felt that Arum’s reasons for not wanting the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight to take place on that date was self-serving.

continue

Arum to stick it out with Mayweather-Pacquiao negotiations until the bitter end

01/13/2015 Rob Smith

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says he’s going to stick it out with the negotiations between his fighter Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr and not nail like he did in 2009 when he attempted to negotiate a fight between the two stars for the first time. For boxing fans who may have forgotten what happened in that situation, Arum quickly pulled Pacquiao out of the negotiations when the two fighters reached a stalemate over the blood testing that Mayweather wanted.

Instead of sticking it out and finishing the negotiations, Arum moved Pacquiao into a fight with one of his stable fighters Joshua Clottey and the fight failed to do impressive numbers like some of Pacquiao’s other fights.

continue

Arum waiting for Mayweather’s signature on contract for Pacquiao fight

01/13/2015 Rob Smith

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says that WBA/WBC 147 pound champion Floyd Mayweather Jr hasn’t come forth to sign his part of the contract for a mega-fight against Arum’s money guy Manny Pacquiao for a fight on May 2nd. According to Arum, Pacquiao has signed off on everything that Mayweather wants in the negotiations but the fight still hasn’t signed by Floyd.

Arum is starting to think that it’ll be like the first negotiations that took place between the two superstars in 2009 in which Mayweather chose not to sign for the fight after Pacquiao didn’t agree to the full random blood testing that he wanted in order to fight the Filipino fighter.

continue

Pacquiao expects Mayweather fight to happen, says announcement coming before end of month

01/11/2015 Rob Smith

In what has to be seen as a positive sign that the negotiations are going well, Manny Pacquiao is saying that he expects to make an announcement about his mega-fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr taking place before the end of January. Pacquiao says he thinks the fight will be taking place.
A lot can still happen between now and before the end of the month, but it’s very good news that Pacquiao is saying that he sees the Mayweather fight taking place.

“We will make an announcement before the end of the month” and added “I think it (the fight” will happen,” Pacquiao said via Philboxing.com.

continue

Mayweather-Pacquiao fight could get done in 7-10 days

01/10/2015 Rob Smith

The mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Pacquiao could get done in the next week to week and a half, according to an inside source that spoke to LA Times writer Lance Pugmire on Friday. The blood testing and venue have both been agreed on, and now the only thing that’s left to iron out is the purse split for the fight.

We’re making progress,” the source told Pugmire at Latimes.com.

The purse split is the tricky part. Pacquiao is said to be okay with getting a 60-40 deal with Mayweather getting the lion’s share, but it’s unclear whether that’s a good enough deal for Mayweather to agree to.

continue

Roach: Mayweather-Pacquiao fight is looking good

01/10/2015 Rob Smith

Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach is feeling pretty good about the negotiations that are taking place between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. However, Roach notes that there’s still a long ways to go before the fight gets made. Roach doesn’t know what’s going on specifically with the negotiations but he’s hearing positive stuff.

According to the LA Times, the blood testing and venue have both been agreed on. The thing that still remains incomplete is the purse split. 60-40 is one number that’s been mentioned.

continue

Is Pacquiao’s management trying to call the shots with Mayweather?

01/07/2015 Rob Smith

If Floyd Mayweather Jr wants the mega-fight against Manny Pacquiao then he’s going to need to hurry up and finish the negotiations in the next three weeks, because Pacquiao’s personal assistant Michael Koncz is saying that the Pacquiao-Mayweather negotiations have until the end of the month before they go in another direction and start looking for another opponent.

continue

Manny Pacquiao to fight twice in 2015

01/05/2015 Rob Smith

WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao will be fighting twice in 2015, says his adviser Michael Koncz. The first fight, which take place in April or possibly May depending on the opponent, will be staged in the United States. The second of the year in November will be staged in Macau, China, where Arum is trying to open up the Chinese markets for pay-per-view.

It’s important to have Pacquiao fight in front of the large Chinese audiences over there. Pacquiao has already become a popular fighter in China, and he and Arum just need more time before the Chinese market will be open for big pay-per-view fights.

continue

Jermain Taylor faces Sergio Mora on February 6th

01/03/2015 Rob Smith

In what should be a fairly easy fight for IBF middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (33-4, 20 KOs), he’ll be defending his IBF title on February 6th against 34-year-old former WBC junior middleweight champion Sergio Mora (27-3-2, 9 KOs) at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.

Unfortunately for the 36-year-old Taylor, he’s facing some huge legal problems that he’s got to deal with in the near future, and it’s still unclear whether he’ll be able to avoid jail time for the charges.

continue

Pacquiao staying at welterweight, says Arum

01/03/2015 Rob Smith

Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach has been doing some talking about Pacquiao potentially moving down in weight to light welterweight to fight a new crop of fighters in that weight class. Roach surmises that Pacquiao’s power will be better at that weight class and that he will be able to start knocking guys out once again.

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is saying that the Filipino fighter will be staying put at 147. If Arum has the last word then Pacquiao won’t be moving down in weight in 2015. It doesn’t mean that he won’t someday make the move down in weight, but it looks like Arum has other plans for him at welterweight.

continue