Arum Gives Hope for Floyd-Pacquiao Fight in 2015
Bob Arum Confident Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao Fight Will Happen in 2015
By AP, Aug 28, 2014
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In boxing, you can never rule anything out, including the prospect of Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao stepping into the ring against one another. Top Rank CEO Bob Arum told Vic Tafur of the San Francisco
Chronicle that a Mayweather/Pacquiao bout could happen in 2015.
"Both networks want this fight to happen," said Arum. "All signs seem to point to the fight happening early next year."
Boxing fans will naturally be extremely skeptical when they hear that Mayweather and Pacquiao is only months away from coming to fruition. Yahoo Sports' Martin Rogers wrote back in April about how this proposed superfight has been extremely close before, only for some unknown road block to stand in the way:
Quote:
Mayweather and Pacquiao have circled each other for years and as long ago as 2009 it seemed as if a showdown between the fight game's two biggest would be made. When the bout fell apart, it was not entirely clear who was ducking whom, though time has told us that Mayweather has been wiser to avoid the clash. Every demand he has made, from enhanced drug-testing to a greater profit share, has been accepted by the Pacquiao camp, but still no agreement has been made.
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With that said, both fighters know that if they're going to fight, it's got to be soon. Far fewer people will buy a pay-per-view involving an over-the-hill Mayweather and Pacquiao two, three or four years from now. Arum acknowledged this issue in the Chronicle article.
"There is a sell-by date, where it becomes (after that) ‘Who cares?’ It has to happen by the first six months of next year," he said.
Perhaps it's no coincidence that Arum is hyping up the potential of this fight now that Richard Schaefer is no longer a part of Golden Boy Promotions. His departure in turn led to a warming of the relations between Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank, which increases the chances that all of the backroom issues can be worked out regarding a Mayweather/Pacquiao pay-per-view.
Although both Mayweather and Pacquiao are no longer in their primes, they're still competing at a high enough level that many boxing fans would still pay to see them headline a major PPV.
Money talks, especially in boxing. You have to wonder how much longer Mayweather and Pacquiao can continue to ignore the massive payday they'd both receive by taking this fight.
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