by James Slater – Despite the recent disappointment of the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather super-fight falling apart, and now yesterday’s disappointing news of how the Shane Msoley-Andre Berto fight set for January 30th won’t be happening as scheduled either, things could just turn out far better than anyone could have expected.
Pacquiao, as we know, is set to face the big and strong Joshua Clottey in a most decent match-up of a fight on march 13th, and the latest news is that Mayweather may now face Mosley in early May. Then, looking further ahead, the winner from each bout could even wind up facing each other in a huge blockbuster of a fight in the latter stages of 2010. Granted, this is a best case scenario if ever there was one, but with some luck we could be seeing something special at welterweight this year after all..
Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy, has let it be known how he is right now “doing his best” to make Mosley-Mayweather for either May 1st or May 8th in Las Vegas. Schaefer, who says March 13th (the date Mayweather was originally going to go head-to-head with Pacquiao at the box office) doesn’t work for Mosley-Mayweather because more time is needed to sufficiently hype the fight, has May 1st and May 8th reserved at The MGM Grand in Vegas. All that’s needed now is for both fighters to agree to terms and sign the contract.
As we know, getting two fighters to agree to terms is no little thing these days, and it’s not yet known if Mayweather will demand of Mosley the same random blood tests he demanded, unsuccessfully, of Pacquiao. Nor is it known if Mosley would agree to such demands. However, Schaefer, who recognises how big a fight Mosley-Mayweather would be, is hopeful the welterweight title fight can get made.
“That’s [Mayweather-Mosley] one of the few super-fights out there, the kind of fight that would interest not only boxing and sports fans but the general public,” Schaefer told Ring TV.com. “I’m going to focus all my energy in the coming hours to see if I can put that fight together.”
There seems little doubt Mosley would take the fight in a heartbeat, already clamouring for it as he has been in the recent months (Mosley, desperate for a super-fight, also called out Pacquiao – to no avail). But will Mayweather, who has struck the fans as a cautious, even safety first kind of guy just lately, agree to face the man who, even at age 38, could be just as fast as he is?
If Mayweather-Mosley falls apart with Mayweather opting to instead face someone else who is far less marketable and far less formidable a challenge, fans really will have had enough. It seems the ball is in Mayweather’s court, and he has the ability, with one fight, to get a huge number of fans back on his side. But, as some people have suggested, the satisfaction of the fans may not be Floyd’s main concern – whereas keeping the zero at the end of his record is. Is Mosley too much of a threat to “Money’s” perfect record? It’s up to Floyd to do what’s right and fight Mosley – otherwise we will be seeing a second mega-fight involving him go down the drain.
As for Berto, whose decision not to fight on Jan. 30th is wholly understandable, he will surely be looking at one day facing the Mayweather-Mosley winner if they do indeed get it on in May. Fingers crossed they do!