Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is already reportedly on his way to the Philippines to personally deliver the contract for the proposed superfight against Floyd Mayweather Jr., for Manny Pacquiao’s signature.
For all the business and historical ramifications of the fight, this time the motivation may be personal for the Pacman.
Pacquiao-Mayweather or Mayweather-Pacquiao, however you may want to call it, makes so much sense business-wise that promoters on both sides were reportedly pleasantly surprised that negotiation went so smoothly with basically just the minor points in the promotion left to be ironed out in the weeks ahead. What was initially expected to be a tough clash of egos turned out to be a walk in the park as a simple 50/50 revenue-sharing proposition was already adequate to make both sides happy enough to clinch the deal. After all, it wouldn’t make sense either way if both camps allow a mere few percentage points get in the way of them making the biggest purses of their career even with just a 50/50 split: an expected take home pay in the vicinity of upwards of 40 million dollars for each, in a bout that is widely expected to top even the De La Hoya-Mayweather record-breaking numbers of 2007.
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« Manny Pacquiao: His Wealth, His Fame and How About His Name?Veteran sports journalist Ronnie Nathanielsz reported in an article posted in Philboxing.com that after just a week or so of formal negotiations with Golden Boy Promotions’ CEO Richard Schaefer who is negotiating in behalf of Mayweather Promotions, Top Rank’s Bob Arum is already on his way to the Philippines to personally deliver the contract for Pacquiao’s signature. The veteran promoter is expected to arrive in Manila by Thursday morning (Manila Time) although it wasn’t confirmed in the report if the Mayweather fight would be happening on March 13th or in September of next year. Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports and Ben Thompson of FightHype.com however reports that March 13 is the penciled date for the fight based on information provided to them by their inside sources.
Historical implications also abound in this fight as the victor will offer proof beyond reasonable doubt that he truly is the rightful owner of the mythical pound-for-pound title which both fighters are staking their claim right now. The winner would also be likely taking the best fighter of the decade honor and would make a very strong case for the best fighter of this era as well.
Green Monster Has Snowball Effect
Already among the most anticipated fight in decades, the super-hot match-up between unbeaten American Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather Jr. (40-0, 25 KOs) and Filipino fighting pride Manny ‘Pacman’ Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs) makes so much sense economically and historically that it’s almost unthinkable that another angle could give either fighter even more motivation going into the fight.
It can be remembered however that Floyd Mayweather Sr., in his attempt to explain the Pacman’s incredible success in climbing and beating fighters from the heavier weight divisions, first accused Pacquiao of using steroids in early October when Team Pacquiao was in the midst of their preparations for the upcoming match against Miguel Cotto.
Despite initial reports that Pacquiao would take Mayweather Sr. to court over that baseless accusation, he was apparently persuaded not to pursue that course as Freddie Roach claimed nobody listens to the Mayweathers anyway, and besides why bungle a potential blockbuster fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. down the line, which at that point was already a very real possibility if and when the Pacman hurdles Cotto. Cooler heads may have surmised over Manny: seal the fight, beat the hell out of Lil Floyd, get your biggest paycheck, and have the last laugh all the way to the bank. And if Mayweather Sr. still persists with his steroid allegations after the fight, then you can go ahead and sue his ass for several million dollars more. Sweet.
With Pacquiao’s impressive demolition job of Miguel Cotto in their fight last November 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Mayweather Sr. again dismisses the Pacman’s performance and once again brings out the issue of steroid use against the Filipino seven-division champion. Meantime, ever since this issue came out in early October a few boxers, such as light middleweight Kermit Cintron and light welterweight Paulie Malignaggi, have actually bought into this crap and offered their ‘personal’ take again without the benefit of any evidence to support their claim whatsoever.
Nevermind that the Nevada State Athletic Commission officially cleared the Pacman in his fight against Cotto or in his ten other fights held in Las Vegas. Nevermind if the other boxing commissions in the states of Texas and California where Pacquiao also fought before also cleared him against any doping charges. Nevermind if Pacquiao has never been tested positive for doping, not even once, by any boxing commission. You can’t reason with the green-headed monster called Envy that has clearly eaten this guys.
The steroid allegations has snowballed to such an absurd proportion that Sports Illustrated even reportedly preferred the squeaky-clean Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees as its Athlete of the Year over the much more impressive and most would claim historic body of work, with his unprecedented seventh title in seven divisions, done by Pacquiao this year due to the somewhat tainted reputation of the Pacman on the steroids issue, as speculated by Brad Cooney of 8countnews.com.
Business and History Aside, This One’s Personal
Business and historical significance aside, this fight appears to be personal more than anything else for Pacquiao as he recently admitted in a video aired over Philippine media outlet GMA that the constant trash talking of the Mayweathers especially the steroids allegation thrown at him by Floyd Mayweather Sr. has annoyed him enough to elicit ill-feelings towards the father-and-son tandem. Ill feelings which the Pacman hints, in a thinly-veiled threat, might come to fore during the fight, if and when it happens.
“If our fight happens… maybe he should warn his son that there will be some lingering ill-feelings there because of his accusations”, said Pacquiao, based on a translation of the same GMA video as reported by Dennis ‘dSource’ Guillermo of Examiner.com.
That’s a scary thought considering that the Pacman has been destroying, not just beating, but destroying his opponents in the last four fights. And these were supposedly bigger fighters which from all accounts he had no bad blood to begin with. Noting the various forms of pain and punishment that the Pacman administered on these supposedly friendly fighters, I shudder at the thought of how much damage he can possibly inflict on someone whom he is genuinely pissed off with. From that same article by Guillermo I quote and I agree, “truth be told, I would not want to be “Money” Mayweather when he faces the Pac Man in the ring whenever, wherever- if ever”.
Taking the issue into context, in the Philippines where even the most trivial of things can get you killed, besmirching someone’s name and reputation is definitely up there among the top reasons that you can invite harm, almost on the same level with land disputes, crimes of passion, or election-related violence.
Bob Arum is on his way to the Philippines to personally hand-carry the contract for Pacquiao’s signature.
Somewhere, Pacman is waiting and licking his chops, and I don’t mean the jack russel terrier.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
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