No news is good news. At least that has been the case for the last year and a half with regards to a possible Manny Pacquiao – Floyd Mayweather superfight.
Last Friday, Top Rank boss Bob Arum held a conference call to update boxing aficionados on the latest happenings in the sorry attempt to put together the one fight that all boxing fans are dying to see.
As the story goes, Arum had set a deadline for Mayweather’s camp to get in touch with Top Rank and HBO get the ball rolling. The deadline put in place by Arum was Friday at midnight, Pacific Daylight Time.
The international conference call played host to journalists from all around the globe. Some woke up early or stayed up late, while others abandoned their daily routines and responsibilities all to call in and hear what Top Rank’s grill master had to say.
Further, Top Rank, along with other various media outlets, allowed for a live-streaming of the call on their websites giving boxing fans worldwide access to the call.
Unfortunately for all who possessed even the tiniest bit of hope that Arum would talk about progress, he filled the airwaves and telephone lines with disappointment almost immediately. Arum confirmed that he had yet to hear anything from Money May’s camp. As the deadline came and went, Mayweather and his team stayed silent.
But just when you thought all hope was lost, Arum dangled yet another carrot in front of boxing fan’s faces.
“People have asked me as well as others at Top Rank, does that mean the Mayweather fight is dead?” Arum said. “Even though Mayweather has not responded by the deadline, the deal is dead when we reach a deal with an opponent for Manny’s fight in November.”
To quote Jim Carrey in the 1994 film “Dumb & Dumber”: “Soooooo, you’re telling me there’s a chance!?”
Friday at midnight — on the west coast — marked the time when Arum stopped exclusivity with the Mayweather camp and announced his intentions to explore other options for Pacquiao.
Arum went on to declare that he is turning his attention to making a possible fight with the “Tijuana Tornado”, Antonio Margarito, or a possible rematch with newly crowned WBA Junior Middleweight champion, Miguel Cotto.
Needless to say, neither is remotely as appealing as a Pacquiao-Mayweather bout.
There is little intriguing about a rematch with Cotto, who Pacquiao thoroughly dissected just some seven-plus months ago.
If he were to fight Margarito, who is currently not licensed in Nevada after the infamous hand-wrap scandal, Arum said the fight would most likely take place in Monterrey, Mexico.
For some reason, I don’t see that happening. The number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world, traveling into another fighter’s backyard — potentially a hostile environment — where Mexican fans would be rampant in their support of their native fighter.
After Arum acknowledged his intentions to inquire about matching Pacquiao with either Margarito or Cotto, he speculated about the possible reasons Mayweather had stayed silent as the deadline passed.
“One of the reasons could be the uncertainty regarding Roger Mayweather and for people that don’t know, Roger Mayweather is scheduled for court in Nevada regarding criminal charges,” Arum said. “Now I know how Manny would feel if he had to go into a fight like this without the services of Freddie Roach and presumably Floyd would feel the same way going into a fight like this without the services of his uncle Roger who has been training him for a number of years.”
Two days later, the Mayweather camp finally released a statement via Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions.
“Here are the facts. Al Haymon [Mayweather’s manager], Richard Schaefer [CEO of Golden Boy Promotions] and myself speak to each other on a regular basis, and the truth is no negotiations have ever taken place, nor was there ever a deal agreed upon by Team Mayweather or Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13. Either Ross Greenburg [President of HBO Sports] or Bob Arum is not telling the truth, but history tells us who is lying.”
After Arum read the statement, he responded by sticking to his guns, saying Greenburg told him he was active in talks with Haymon, who was relaying messages back and forth to and from Mayweather.
The he-said, she-said all sounds like a childish game of ‘telephone’ — rather than grown men, heads of companies negotiating what could amount to the most prosperous fight in boxing history.
Whatever it is — lack of communication or lies, it all amounts to negativity.
Enough is enough.
No more chasing the elusive carrot.
Arum, Ellerbe, Greenburg, or anyone else involved in the attempt to make this fight a reality should stay silent until legitimate progress is made.
Top Rank has a great stable of fighters and its upcoming bouts should be the focus of Arum’s dialogue, not the constant letdowns that seem to come with the Pacquiao-Mayweather negotiations — whether it be the fault of Team Mayweather or not.
No more conference calls to report disappointing news.
No more public cheap shots at Mayweather or Pacquiao and their teams. There is enough blame to go around for everyone.
Holding an international conference call and inviting the entire boxing world to listen in to disappointing news fails to positively serve the sport of boxing.
Next time there is disheartening news to report, save your breath and let us all move on from what could have been.
And on that note, if the next news out of the Top Rank camp does in fact have to do with a Pacquiao-Margarito bout, or Pacquiao-Cotto rematch, you can stay silent about that too.
Kyle Kinder can be reached at Twitter.com/KyleKinder
Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank
