By James Slater: As fans have surely read by now, superstar Floyd Mayweather Junior, who was expected to be languishing inside a jail cell by now, has had his 90-day sentence delayed. Mayweather, a huge cash draw, is expected to generate around $100 million for the struggling Las Vegas economy, and the judge who agreed to delay his sentence fully understands this.
So Mayweather, as his advisor Leonard Ellerbe is quoted as saying by Yahoo! Sports, will still be able to fight on the May 5th Mexican independence day weekend he had been looking at for months. Ellerbe said an opponent will be announced next week.
But don’t expect that opponent to be fellow megastar Manny Pacquiao!
According to articles on Yahoo! Sports and Boxing Insider, Pac-Man promoter Bob Arum is in no way keen for a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight to happen as soon as May 5th. Nor does Arum want it at as “small” an arena as The MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Arum has listed a number of issues that will almost certainly prevent the fight the world wants to see from taking place on May 5th.
Arum has spoken about plans to build a special 40,000 seat arena on the Vegas strip for the fight, so as to make as much money as possible from live revenue. Arum says this arena would not possibly be ready before the end of May at the earliest. Arum also spoke about the cut Pac-Man suffered in his November fight with Juan Manuel Marquez; with Bob saying Manny may not be fully healed by May 5th.
It seems, then, as though the two P-4-P rivals will continue to go their separate ways – with Pacquiao set to meet Arum tomorrow in The Philippines, to discuss his next fight (four names currently on the table: Marquez, Miguel Cotto, Tim Bradley and Lamont Peterson) and Mayweather looking for his May 5th dance partner.
According to Ellerbe, in being quoted by Kevin Iole, upcoming star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is a distinct possibility for “Money.”
“Yes,” Ellerbe said simply when asked if Alvarez is a possibility for May 5th.
“Canelo very much wants this fight, I can promise you that,” Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer said.
It’s a no-brainer that, with the hugely popular Alvarez being a Mexican, his fighting Mayweather on Cinco de Mayo weekend would make a lot of sense. But would the fight make sense for the 21-year-old WBC 154-pound champ? Is Canelo ready for such a huge fight against an all-time great like the unbeaten Mayweather?
But Floyd has to find someone to fight, and if it’s not Pacquiao it could be somewhat tough getting millions of fans excited. Of course, Mayweather has proven in the past that he is the box office king, and he will attract attention whoever he fights next (maybe more so due to the jail time publicity). But as good as Alvarez, Robert Guerrero and any of the other fighters who have expressed interest in facing Mayweather next may be, it would not be the EVENT a Mayweather Vs. Pacquiao fight would be.
All the same, it sure will be interesting to see who Team-Mayweather announce as the May 5th opponent.
Meanwhile, Floyd is now set to begin his jail time on June 1st.