By James Slater – Top Rank boss and promoter of superstar Manny Pacquiao Bob Arum recently gave an interview that went out on video on Mpboxing.com (Manny Pacquiao Boxing), and in the interview the 79-year-old revealed how secretive talks recently took place with the hope being, once again, that a Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao super-fight might be made.
Arum, looking exasperated, told the Filipino interviewing him that the reason the super-fight fell apart this time was the astronomical fee “Money” Mayweather asked for. Apparently, Mayweather asked for the unrealistic sum of $100 million!
“We went through negotiations with Mayweather, nobody really knew about it,” Arum said. “Some group came in and they wanted to put it on [the fight] in a particular country and Mayweather asked for a number that was so high, it indicated that he didn’t want to fight. Take a guess at the number that he asked for, for himself? One hundred. That’s right, $100 million. F***k, I mean, who’s going to pay him $100 million? I mean, unless Manny Pacquiao fights for nothing, how can you do the fight?
“He [Mayweather] can’t say no, he doesn’t want the fight, so you price yourself out.”
So, has the legally-troubled former Pound-for-Pound king who has yet to taste defeat as a pro purposely overpriced himself, simply because he doesn’t actually want to fight Pac-Man? That’s certainly what Arum believes. Floyd hasn’t made things easy with regards to getting this fight on, that’s for sure. First, to much media attention, the 34-year-old demanded Pacquiao take Olympic style drug tests (a demand he had made of no previous opponent; only forcing next foe Shane Mosley to agree to such testing), now he is reportedly asking for enough money to fund a small country. What do you think: does Mayweather really want this fight or not?
Meanwhile, it has been reported – on Fightnews.com amongst other places – that Pacquiao’s defamation lawsuit, against Mayweather, Oscar De La Hoya and Richard Schaefer, will go ahead in court at a date to be announced. Pacquiao is suing Mayweather, De la Hoya and Schafer for making unsubstantiated allegations that he has taken performance enhancing drugs. Hours ago, a Nevada federal district court denied a bid to dismiss Manny’s lawsuit.
“We are extremely pleased with the court’s decision,” Pacquiao representative Daniel Petrocelli said. “Manny is looking forward to his day in court and to put an end to these irresponsible accusations.”
It seems, with his assault and battery charges still hanging over him, with an April date scheduled, Mayweather will be fighting only in court for the remainder of this year. It’s been over ten months since Mayweather’s last fight, the win over Mosley, and since then Floyd has made the news primarily for things other than boxing.