Following the news that the face of American boxing, Floyd Mayweather Jr., was sentenced to 90 days in jail on Wednesday, the subject quickly became how this would affect a possible championship bout with Manny Pacquiao.
This was assuming that a Mayweather-Pacquiao bout was in the works — which it wasn’t.
True, Team Mayweather has set aside a May 5 date at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and, assuming Mayweather serves the full 90-day sentence, which begins Jan. 6, he’ll be a free man on April 4. But that leaves little time for real training and even less time for his usual promotional tour.
More importantly, there were no plans at all for the fight — despite what you may have heard.
According to Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum, there have been super-secret negotiations going on to finally make boxing’s biggest mega-fight happen. So secret that even Mayweather was unaware they were going on.
Since issuing an informal challenge to Pacquiao for a May 5 bout late last month, the WBC welterweight champ repeatedly has denied that any deals are even being discussed. Meanwhile, Arum has made comments to the media regarding plans being put in motion and fruitful meetings with interested investors.
Those who’ve followed the Mayweather-Pacquiao saga since its beginnings in late 2009 are well aware of the discrepancies between Arum’s media statements and the actual truth. The 80-year-old CEO of Top Rank Promotions repeatedly has offered up distractions and misdirection ploys whenever talks of a Mayweather bout come up. The wily promoter even once issued Mayweather a public deadline to sign up for a Pacquiao bout, only to later admit that he never actually spoke directly to anyone from Team Mayweather about any such matchup.
Some have theorized that Arum is reluctant to make the fight and risk losing potential earnings to a fighter with whom he has no promotional deal. Up until now, it’s been easy sailing for Arum as Pacquiao has been matched in-house, against fighters the promoter has under contract. A fight with Mayweather offers the real risk that a good chunk of Pacquiao’s marketability and earning potential could fly right out the door and never return.
Making this potential loss even less palatable to Arum is the fact that Mayweather, since leaving Top Rank Promotions in a bitter, acrimonious break-up in 2006, has been persona non grata in the heart and mind of the veteran promoter.
But lately, it appeared things were a little different. Pacquiao seems to really want Mayweather. The fighter even put together a press conference in his native Philippines to announce his desire to make the fight and, most importantly, his belief that the bout actually is being pursued by Arum.
If Arum’s goal is to avoid the mega-fight while simultaneously appeasing Pacquiao, the Mayweather plea bargain and subsequent jail sentence could not be more perfectly timed.
Coinciding with Tuesday’s announcement of the Mayweather plea deal, Arum told Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times that he is “pursuing the idea of building a 45,000-seat venue on the Las Vegas Strip” to house the fight.
Of course, now that Mayweather has been sentenced, the fight couldn’t possibly take place on May 5. Pacquiao may be “forced” into a spring date with recent Top Rank signee Timothy Bradley, or a possible fourth bout with Juan Manuel Marquez.
Welcome to the Bob Arum Vortex.
In the Arum Vortex, Mayweather-Pacquiao gets closer to being made only when the fight becomes less of a possibility. At this rate, the only way the fight ever gets made is if it’s sure to never happen.
Doesn’t make much sense, right?
Well, that’s the world of big-time professional boxing, at least when it comes to Bob Arum and the thought of matching his cash cow against Mayweather.
