Pacquiao extends contract with Top Rank

09/14/201610/11/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: Manny Pacquiao has extended his contract with Top Rank through 2014. It’s not all that surprising because Pacquiao seems to be pretty committed to Top Rank promoter Bob Arum. The contract could pretty much finish out the remaining quality years of Pacquiao’s career. If he’s still fighting in 2015, it’s hard to imagine him being relevant in terms of still being the best at welterweight.

He’d still be among the top two fighters in terms of money in the sport, but the way that Pacquiao has been looking slower and less active in the ring, it’s hard to imagine him being able to fight on a high level by 2015. What this means is boxing fans will probably never get to see Pacquiao fight Floyd Mayweather Jr.

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Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao: “It’s just business”

09/14/201610/10/2012 ESB

Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao: “It’s just business” By Joseph Herron: This morning on ESPN’s “First Take” with Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless, HBO’s Larry Merchant chimed in on whether or not a mega fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao would ever take place.

“What’s stood in the way of a big Mayweather/Pacquiao fight taking place up to this point is a financial disincentive for both men,” insists the world renowned boxing commentator. “Both fighters are already making 40 and 50 million dollars a year fighting lower risk opposition. There’s no financial urgency to make this fight happen. This is a business as well as a sport.”

While many fight fans and boxing scribes have called for a PPV boycott of both fighters’ events to force the hand of the promoters and athletes involved, Mr. Merchant feels the prospect of that actually happening is highly unlikely.

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Cotto says he wasn’t offered $13 million for Pacquiao rematch

09/14/201610/05/2012 ESB

By Michael Collins: Former WBA World junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto is saying that he was never offered the $13 million to fight Manny Pacquiao in a rematch, according to ESPN. Cotto claims that he was given the exact same deal as he did when he fought Pacquiao at a catchweight of 145 lbs back in 2009. Because the offer was the same for a rematch, Cotto decided not to fight Pacquiao a second time. Cotto also didn’t like the idea of fighting Pacquiao at a catchwweight of 150 pounds, which would have likely benefited more than Cotto.

Cotto said in an interview by Dan Rafael at ESPN “The only offer Top Rank ever made us was the same money as in 2009. [Arum] made the same offer he made in 2009, and we found it kind of funny. That was the reason we decided not to face Pacquiao. That, and they also wanted me to go down to 150 pounds and given him the same advantage that they gave Pacquiao in 2009.”

The last time it was a catchweight of 145 lbs, but now it’s a little higher at 150. However, Cotto has filled out since then and it’s a lot harder for him to boil down to make weight. It’s not all that surprising that Cotto didn’t want to have to deal with another catchweight after the bad experience he had the last time he fought Pacquiao.

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Pacquiao starts training camp on October 15th; Marquez already training in Mexico

09/14/201610/05/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: Manny Pacquiao will be starting his training camp on October 15th with trainer Freddie Roach at the Wildcard Gym in Los Angeles, California. Pacquiao and Roach plan on trying to take Pacquiao back to where he was in his earlier days when he was a seek and destroy fighter. For whatever reason Pacquiao has evolved into a slow plodder that moves with great effort, can’t cut off a ring very well, and who only fights hard for the last 30 to 40 seconds of every round. Pacquiao thinks he can get back to the form of his early youth by working out harder.

Pacquiao is currently being put through his paces by one of his team members Buboy Fernandez, but this isn’t the official start of his training camp.

As for Marquez, he’s already busy working out in the mountains of Mexico and is reportedly training at the 15,354 foot Nevado de Toluca, in the mounts of Mexico to work on his conditioning. According to the Manila Bulletin, Marquez plans on working at high altitude for 10 days to build up his endurance for the Pacquiao fight.

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News: Arum already has Pacquiao scheduled for April 20th next year

09/14/201610/03/2012 ESB

By Dwight Chittenden: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has already penciled in his number #1 money fighter Manny Pacquiao for April 20th of next year against a still to be determined opponent. Arum scheduling Pacquiao ahead of time isn’t really anything new, but it is perhaps an indication that Arum isn’t all that interested in putting Pacquiao in with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

It’s either that or Arum just doesn’t think a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao is attainable by that date. Arum would likely know, as it’s pretty clear that Pacquiao won’t be getting a 50-50 deal with Mayweather if they fight next year. Arum has always insisted that Pacquiao deserves nothing less than a 50-50 deal. But by setting a date in early 2013, you could interpret as a signal that Arum is trying to give Mayweather the brush off because this move will surely do.

Arum said to the Manila Bulletin “I have talked with Manny and we agreed to hold this fight on April 20th.”

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Roach still wishes Pacquiao had chosen Bradley to fight rather than Marquez

10/05/201210/03/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: Trainer Freddie Roach says he wished that his fighter Manny Pacquiao had selected WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley to fight next instead of facing Juan Manuel Marquez for a fourth time when they meet on December 8th. Roach has made it clear in the past that Marquez is a really tough fight for Pacquiao and he doesn’t see anything to be gained from fighting him yet another time after having already faced him three separate times.

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Few tickets left for Pacquiao-Marquez 4 bout

09/14/201610/02/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: While the hardcore boxing fans might be incredibly sick of seeing Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez fight endlessly, the casual boxing fans are clearly not bored as they’ve purchased nearly all of the 16,800 tickets for the Pacquiao-Marquez scheduled for December 8th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. As of Monday morning there were only 3000 tickets left with 13,00 having been sold over the weekend. By now the 3000 remaining tickets are probably reduced to even lower numbers.

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is pretty excited about this, saying to ESPN “We are ecstatic with the response.”

I bet Arum is. The last Pacquiao fight was against Tim Bradley and it reportedly didn’t do well on pay per view. This is one of the reasons why Bradley didn’t get a second chance to beat Pacquiao again.

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Gamboa could fight on Pacquiao-Marquez 4 undercard on December 8th

09/29/201209/29/2012 ESB

By Michael Collins: Former IBF/WBA featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa (21-0, 16 KO’s) could wind up on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez 4 fight on December 8th, according to Steve Kim. Gamboa hasn’t fought since last year in September in beating Daniel Ponce De Leon. Gamboa has been out of action due to promotional problems in leaving Top Rank.

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What’s Behind Pacquiao’s Decision to Drop Lawsuit

09/14/201609/27/2012 ESB

By Paul Strauss: The latest news release reveals Manny Pacquiao is dropping his defamation lawsuit against the Mayweathers in exchange for an undisclosed settlement. In addition, the Mayweathers have to endure some humiliation by releasing a statement explaining they never intended to imply Manny used PEDs, and none of their previous comments should in any way be construed as such. Talk about foul tasting!

Don’t you find it interesting this is coming soon after a judge ordered Floyd Mayweather, Jr. to pay Manny’s legal fees? The judge apparently felt Floyd failed to cooperate. Floyd’s reason or alibi’s given for failing to appear on prescribed dates for depositions were not acceptable. Another way of looking at it is Floyd was refusing to comply with his legal obligation to be deposed. At least that’s the way the judge looked at it. The possibly of giving testimony under oath was obviously not something Floyd, Jr relished. That possibility was harder to swallow than the crow he is now eating.

Alas, it’s a safe bet the undisclosed amount Floyd, Jr. has agreed to pay to Manny is going to be somewhere close to five percent of the projected purse for their long awaited and hoped for match. Remember, just a few days ago, Manny announced he would take 45% to Little Money’s 55%.

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Mayweather-Pacquiao settle defamation lawsuit out of court

09/14/201609/25/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao have reach an undisclosed out of court settlement to resolve Pacquiao’s defamation lawsuit against Mayweather. The terms are confidential, according to AP. Each party will pay for their own attorney fees for the case.

The lawsuit came about from alleged comments made by Mayweather and his father Floyd Mayweather Sr. that Pacquiao had used banned substances to accomplish his feats. Last week, Mayweather was ordered to pay $114,000 after failing to show up for the Pacquiao case.

With this case behind them this could be the last impediment to putting together a Mayweather-Pacquiao blockbuster pay per view bout in early 2013. Mayweather wants the fight, Pacquiao wants the fight, and the boxing public badly wants to see them fight. Although it might be a little late in the game for the fight to be put together, it’s better late than never.

Pacquiao can’t afford to wait because he’s clearly lost a step and isn’t the same fighter he was three years ago. He lost his last fight to Tim Bradley, and he perhaps should have lost his fight before that against Juan Manuel Marquez.

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