Floyd Mayweather Jr. this week took his quest for a fight with Manny Pacquiao to social networking site Twitter.
The unbeaten Mayweather laid down the challenge before taunting his Filipino rival on Tuesday, daring Pacquiao to face him on May 5th in Las Vegas.
Mayweather and Pacquiao: Fighting talk, but still no negotiations
“Manny Pacquiao I’m calling you out let’s fight May 5th and give the world what they want to see,” Mayweather tweeted.
Moments later, Pretty boy Floyd tweeted again saying: “My Jail Sentence was pushed back because the date was locked in. Step up Punk.”
Mayweather is free to fight in May after seeing his 90-day jail sentence for domestic violence delayed and has already booked May 5th for a showdown, he hopes will be against Pacquiao.
Mayweather’s recent media stunt appears to have put the mega-fight’s future in Pacquiao’s hands – however Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has already drawn up a list of alternative candidates including Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto, Lamont Peterson and Timothy Bradley for Pacquiao’s next bout.
‘Money May’ didn’t have long to wait with Manny Pacquiao accepting the challenge on Thursday. However, Team Pacquiao appear resistant to the idea of taking the fight on May 5th for a number of reasons, believing that it will mean a loss of revenue for Pac Man and that Mayweather may not be able to guarantee a purse.
“I want to fight him. This is a fight the world wants.” Pacquiao said at a news conference.
Despite both camps wanting the fight there still appear to be a number of complications, owning particularly to Mayweather only being given clearance to fight on May 5th by a Las Vegas court.
The 34-year-old’s prison sentence is now set to begin on June 1, while the WBC welterweight Champion is also demanding a set fee for the bout.
“Mayweather wants a guaranteed purse so what he has to do is get a promoter who can give him that guarantee,” Pacquiao added.
“I don’t have problems getting a guarantee because I have a promoter who will give me my guaranteed purse.”
Those are big words coming from the Filipino superstar’s camp, but they weren’t finished there, with Michael Koncz stating that the venue throws up another problem. Team Pac Man would prefer to push the fight back to the end of May which would mean they could stage the bout at the proposed 45,000 seat outdoor arena over the MGM Grand due to it only having space for 16,800 people.
Koncz is quoted as saying “Why would I tell Manny to fight on the 5th and throw away a percentage of $30 million? That’s crazy!”
According to Koncz, the fight doesn’t make economic sense. This appears to be an excuse to gain an advantage over Mayweather, because this would likely be the most lucrative bout in boxing history and the revenue made by both fighters would comfortably surpass a smaller payday against Bradley, Cotto, Marquez or Peterson.
If Mayweather and Pacquiao intend to make this long-awaited fight happen, then both sides know they must do it quickly, since a promotion of that size would require several months of preparation.
Gentleman, the world is ready. The time for talking is over.
Good article! Seems as though Bob Arum doesn’t want the fight after JMM part 3…..and so throwing around silly excuses.