The following are some details and quotes according to Dan Rafael of espn.com.

“I am glad my decision to meet with Manny and discuss making this fight happen helped get the deal done,” Mayweather said, referring to a chance Jan. 27 meeting with Pacquiao at a Miami Heat game followed by a private discussion after the game. “Giving the fans what they want to see is always my main focus. This will be the biggest event in the history of the sport.”

The networks resultingly will come together to produce and distribute a joint pay-per-view telecast, which is expected to cost a record-high $89.95 (and probably $10 more for high definition).

“I am very happy that Floyd Mayweather and I can give the fans the fight they have wanted for so many years,” Pacquiao said. “They have waited long enough and they deserve it. It is an honor to be part of this historic event. I dedicate this fight to all the fans who willed this fight to happen and, as always, to bring glory to the Philippines and my fellow Filipinos around the world.”

“Boxing fans and sports fans around the world will witness greatness on May 2,” Mayweather said. “I am the best ever, TBE, and this fight will be another opportunity to showcase my skills and do what I do best, which is win. Manny is going to try to do what 47 before him failed to do, but he won’t be successful. He will be number 48.”

On Friday afternoon, Top Rank was notified and Mayweather made the announcement about an hour later, though the deal had been done for a couple of days with both sides having signed the paperwork. Contracts were also signed by broadcasters HBO and Showtime, who will team for a historic joint pay-per-view.

“It’s hasn’t been easy,” Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told ESPN.com. “But I think in some strange way the inability to get the fight done before now enhances its value and this is one event that the public all over the world has been talking about and discussing for years. The interest in the fight will be absolutely red-hot. I’ve been promoting boxing for nearly 50 years and there is nothing that has come close to this because there has been nothing that has been so difficult to come to fruition. As interest is concerned, this is akin to the first (Muhammad) Ali-(Joe) Frazier fight.

“You have to be grateful that this is finally happening. You can’t bemoan the false starts and the inability to do this before. It’s here now.”

“Everyone involved, including Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, knows this fight simply had to happen,” said Stephen Espinoza, executive vice president and general manager of Showtime Sports. “All of us are thrilled to be able to deliver this event to boxing fans around the world.

“Now, for the second time under his current deal with Showtime Networks, Floyd Mayweather has agreed to fight an opponent that many people thought he’d never face. We set an all-time pay-per-view record with the first event back in September 2013 (with Alvarez) and we look forward to another record-breaking performance on May 2.”

Said HBO Sports president Ken Hershman: “Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather have been the two most prominent fighters in the sport of boxing for the past decade, and fight fans around the world have been clamoring for them to face each other.

“And now, on May 2, in what everyone believes will be the biggest boxing event of all time, fight fans have been granted their wish. May 2 will be a signature moment for the sport of boxing and HBO Sports is thrilled to be a part of this spectacular event. I know the fighters and their teams will be primed to excel and we plan to work closely with everyone involved to deliver the same level of performance from a broadcast perspective.”

“The reason I like my guy’s chances so much is because of his speed, the tremendous number of punches he throws, the quality of his punches and the fact that he is left-handed,” Arum said. “Top Rank promoted Floyd Mayweather for 10½ years and we recognized that he had difficulty handling a speedy, left-handed fighter and that he and his father (and trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr.) were insistent that we not match Floyd with a southpaw. I remember two fights he had with southpaws who didn’t have the ability Mann has but who gave him trouble — (DeMarcus) ‘Chop Chop’ Corley, who buzzed him and had him in real trouble and Zab Judah.”

Said Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s Hall of Fame trainer: “Floyd should enjoy being the A-Side while he can because on May 2 Manny is going to put him on his backside.”

NEW YORK (Feb. 20, 2015) — It’s a done deal! Undefeated Floyd Mayweather (47-0, 26 KOs) will fight longtime rival Manny Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs) in a Welterweight World Championship Unification Bout live on Pay-Per-View on Saturday, May 2.

Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President and General Manager of SHOWTIME Sports, and Ken Hershman, President of HBO SPORTS, were made available to the media just minutes after the fight was officially announced by Mayweather via his Shots account.

Here are highlights from what Hershman and Espinoza had to say Friday:

KEN HERSHMAN, President HBO SPORTS

“This is the biggest boxing event of all time, we’re confident of that. We couldn’t be prouder to be a part of it and help craft it.
“We look forward to May 2. It’s going to be a spectacular night for this sport and for HBO and SHOWTIME as well.

“The Mike Tyson-Lennox Lewis joint pay-per-view fight was a great roadmap for this fight. It showed that this can be done successfully. There’s a lot of mechanics that go into this when two networks are working together, and those mechanics carry forward in terms of how things operate behind the scenes.

“The fight will be held on traditional pay-per-view, nothing out of the ordinary on that front. We’re looking forward to getting going, there’s a lot of hard work ahead of us.”

STEPHEN ESPINOZA, Executive Vice President & General Manager SHOWTIME Sports

“We’re thrilled to be a part of what we expect to be a record-breaking event. This deal is a product of a lot of hard work with some blood, sweat and tears along the way.
“I took this job approximately three years ago; the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight has been a topic of conversation and a goal of not only ours, but of Floyd Mayweather’s since he came over to SHOWTIME a little less than three years ago.

“I believe that the direct line of communication between Floyd and Manny cleared up a lot of doubts on both of their minds and renewed their commitment to getting this fight done.

“We have had significant discussions as to who will make up the broadcast team; it will be an all-star team with a combination of talent from both networks.

“The meeting between Floyd and Manny at the Miami Heat game certainly greased the wheels in getting through the final stages of the process.

“One of the main reasons why this deal got done, as opposed to deals in the past, was because Leslie Moonves [President and CEO, CBS Corporation] was a part of the process. He was deeply committed to making this deal and was someone that all parties in this negotiation really respect. He was really the catalyst for seeing this through and refused to take no for an answer from any side.

“We believed this day would come, we worked hard to make it happen and we’re thrilled that it is here.”

Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President & General Manager, SHOWTIME Sports:
“Everyone involved, including Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, knows this fight simply had to happen. All of us are thrilled to be able to deliver this event to boxing fans around the world. Now, for the second time under his current deal with Showtime Networks, Floyd Mayweather has agreed to fight an opponent that many people thought he’d never face. We set an all-time pay-per-view record with the first event back in September 2013, and we look forward to another record-breaking performance on May 2.”

-Ken Hershman, President, HBO Sports:
“Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather have been the two most prominent fighters in the sport of boxing for the past decade, and fight fans around the world have been clamoring for them to face each other. And now, on May 2nd, in what everyone believes will be the biggest boxing event of all-time, fight fans have been granted their wish. May 2nd will be a signature moment for the sport of boxing and HBO Sports is thrilled to be a part of this spectacular event. I know the fighters and their teams will be primed to excel and we plan to work closely with everyone involved to deliver the same level of performance from a broadcast perspective.”

By Norm Frauenheim–

A nervous rash escalated to full-blown panic on social media Thursday when speculation about the Floyd Mayweather Jr.- Manny Pacquaio negotiations reached a new high. Or is that a low?

Whatever it was, the monster got fed, leaving the world atwitter with anxious expectations that at any minute, any second, Mayweather would announce the May 2 fight is a done deal.

As I write this late Thursday, I’m still waiting and wondering why I am. It’s a fool’s errand. But the endless speculation has become a show unto itself. It’s enough to wonder what will happen when it ends with either a real fight or just more futility. If the fight is on, opening bell might not be preceded by as much attention as the talks were.

The fight is five or six years too late. Still, it’s intriguing, still worth a look, although maybe not at a rumored pay-per-view price of $100. But the bout can’t ever live up to the negotiations. Mayweather played it for every tweet and mistaken headline it was worth. The bet here is that the fight would be a letdown.

Mayweather’s feet don’t move at the blinding rate they used to. Marcos Maidana, a wild puncher without precision, got to him repeatedly.

Those same punches from a better tactician would have hurt Mayweather more than they did throughout 24 rounds against Maidana. It’s just one sign that Mayweather would hold, clinch and shoulder-roll as often as possible against Pacquaio.

Then, there’s Pacquaio, whose punches from countless angles overwhelmed Oscar De La Hoya. Pacquiao’s power lifted Ricky Hatton into midair and dropped the Brit onto the canvas like a guy falling off a diving board.

But that fear factor and much of the power are gone. Pacquiao knocked down Chris Algieri six times. But he couldn’t knock him out. Brandon Rios is a sturdy brawler, but he’s no De La Hoya. Rios is hittable. Yet, Pacquiao couldn’t stop him, either. Without a resurrection of that old power, Pacquaio figures to practice caution against Mayweather.

It’s become increasingly evident that neither Mayweather nor Pacquiao is the fighter of five, six years ago. Nevertheless, social media has been ablaze, motivated by their celebrity and the memory of who they were instead who they are. In large part, that’s a pretty good reason to believe that the deal is done and that they’ll fight in May instead of a later date, say September.

If they chose to fight in the interim, there are a lot of emerging faces in a younger generation who might beat them. Against a Keith Thurman or an Amir Khan, they might lose a fight and their share of a total purse reported to be $250 million. If they don’t do it now, they risk throwing away a fortune.

Follow the money. It says the fight is likely, but it’s hard to imagine how it could ever be more exciting than the talks were.

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, there is no imminent announcement for the much talked about fight featuring Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

“The thing that really concerns me is that we are running out of time for May 2,” Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who represents Pacquiao, told ESPN.com on Monday. “If you want to drag this out a little longer then move the fight to later in May — May 30 is a good date — or go in June. We agreed to go on May 2 because that is the date Mayweather is hung up on, but if we’re going to go on May 2 we need to get this done.”

“There are issues that should be solved in 10 minutes, but it’s a slow dance,” Arum said. “We send one draft to their side and their lawyer sends back a draft with something else that’s an issue. And there doesn’t seem to be any urgency about it on their side. It’s terrible.”

Arum has negotiated many of the deal points for the bout through CBS chief executive Leslie Moonves, who has acted as a go-between for Mayweather and his adviser, Al Haymon. Arum said he continues to remain in touch with Moonves and that they exchanged emails on Monday trying to work out the issues.

“I’ve asked Les to expeditiously handle the points there are issues with,” said Arum, who declined to go into the specific issues. “Moonves can handle it. The question is whether the Mayweather side will listen to him. If they’re sincere about trying to make the fight it shouldn’t be an issue, or are they playing a game? I don’t know. I go back and forth. I thought they were always playing a game, that Floyd didn’t want the fight.

“Then Manny and (adviser) Michael (Koncz) spent an hour or so with Mayweather in the hotel suite and they read it that, no, Mayweather really wants the fight. But I don’t know. If people were really concentrating on this it could be done in no time.

“There are unresolved issues on both the fighter deal and the network deal. (The fighters are) on the same page regarding basic deal points but there are lot of meaningful items still unresolved,” said one source involved in the negotiations.

Stung by recent media reports that it is holding up a deal, HBO, which has not even publicly acknowledged the negotiations in the first place, issued a surprising statement on Monday in which it essentially said that nobody should blame it if the deal doesn’t get done.

“We are not an impediment to this fight. We stand ready to go. The principals need to agree to terms and come to a deal,” HBO Sports said in the statement.

By Norm Frauenheim

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao went one-on-one in an old-school way almost forgotten by all the methods offered by social media. Face-to-face. Imagine that.

What took so long? It’s a fair question, one that they probably will ask themselves if they finally sign a deal to fight. But Twitter didn’t get in the way of their chance meeting in Miami during and after a Milwaukee Bucks-Heat game Tuesday night.

They looked into each other’s eyes instead of simply engaging in an exchange of taunts through various digital platforms that have become today’s stage. It’s mostly about ego and entertainment, Hits and followers are like laughs and applause. Gain them with jokes and insults. But it’s no way to negotiate.

According to various media reports, Mayweather initiated the meeting by approaching Pacquiao at court side. Then, the real business was conducted in Pacquiao’s hotel suite, according to Pacquiao advisor Michael Koncz. Koncz told the Associated Press and www.ringtv.com that Tuesday’s two meetings were the first between the two rivals. That’s astonishing. They didn’t run into each other at the Ferrari dealership?

Boxing is a small community, after all But it’s also tribal. Fighters stay with those they trust. Loyalty is their first commandment. The second, third and fourth, too. So, yeah, it’s not beyond belief that Mayweather and Pacquiao have been avoiding each other like wary rivals circling the same prey.

Cheers to Mayweather for initiating the night’s first meeting and asking for the second one. Cheers, too, to Koncz for seemingly encouraging the personal exchange.

A snowstorm in the Northeast might have put Mayweather and Pacquiao in the same place for one night.

But the coincidence provided an opportunity and Koncz knew it. It was beginning to look as if negotiations for a May 2 showdown were dead on arrival. But that was before Mayweather and Pacquiao looked at each other during an hour-long conversation that they’ve never had. Suddenly, there’s optimism instead of the same old futility.

According to Koncz and Pacquaio promoter Bob Arum, there’s an agreement between the networks, Time Warner’s HBO and CBS’ Showtime. Each would produce a special on its own fighter – HBO with Pacquiao and Showtime with Mayweather.

It still isn’t clear who will do the blow-by-blow account and ringside analysis. But it sounds as if an agreement is in the works.

Would there be renewed hope — if not a real chance — for one if Pacquiao and Mayweather had not met?

No.

It’s not the first time that the fighters themselves have broken what seems to be an impossible deadlock. Still, it’s a reminder that, in the end, there’s some real leverage in their dangerous hands.

For as long as there has been an opening bell, fighters have talked about taking the judges out of a fight. It’s one way of promising a stoppage. It’s another way of eliminating the subjectivity that has always haunted the sport. Controversial decisions are bad for business.

In effect, the Pacquiao-Mayweather summit is an attempt at exactly that: Eliminate the middlemen. Talks between CEOs, promoters, managers, advisers, trainers, broadcasters and conditioning coaches appeared to be going nowhere other than in the way.

In the end, only the talk between unlikely business partners might matter. In the end, only Pacquiao and Mayweather will throw punches at each other. Only they can agree to do so.

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather held a private meeting inside of Pacquiao’s hotel suite on Tuesday night in Miami.

They met inside Pacquiao’s hotel suite and “it was very pleasant and very encouraging, and we give Floyd credit for coming over,” Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz, who was present at the meeting, told ESPN.com on Wednesday. “That’s the first time they ever sat eye to eye. I’ve met Floyd many times, but he and Manny had never had a chance to meet. They talked at halftime, but this was a longer, more serious meeting. You could tell by their body language that this was very positive. It was for a good hour or more.

“It was a business meeting, but it wasn’t a tense business meeting. I think that’s because they both have mutual respect for each other. We’ll determine what will happen over the next couple of days.”

“I told Floyd I would call [Pacquiao promoter] Bob [Arum of Top Rank] in the morning, and I did that and discussed them with Bob, and he assured us they have been worked out. I took care of it,” Koncz said. “I said to Floyd, and Manny agreed, that if those are the only two broadcasting issues, we would take care of them.”

Koncz said Pacquiao and Mayweather also discussed other issues but that the broadcasting items were “the majority of the discussion. Floyd said, ‘I want the fight to happen,’ and Manny said he does, too. If the fighters both want the fight to happen, who can stop it? They both said they want it to happen, and we’re still looking to make it happen on May 2.

“I think people are just tired of all of this. Me and Manny, and maybe Floyd, we’re tired of the fans and everybody, everywhere we go continually asking us when the fight will happen. Boxing needs this fight to happen, and it needs to happen in May.”

“I don’t want to go on a worldwide tour. We don’t think it’s necessary,” he said. “Look, we could have stopped in seven cities and not gotten the kind of publicity we got from Manny and Floyd talking at halftime of the basketball game.

“I think we could do one city, perhaps two, New York and Los Angeles, and this thing will go viral. It will sell itself. We don’t need to go spending money on private jets to go to a lot of cities. Those tours are expensive. The money could go to the fighters instead. People want this fight and have wanted it for so long. I would have liked to see it happen three or four or five years ago, but hopefully we can get it done now. It will be the biggest fight in history.”

By Norm Frauenheim–

It’s hard to recall when there wasn’t talk about Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado are about to fight for a third time. We’re still talking.

Gas prices fall from $5-a-gallon to less than $2. Cheap talk continues. A German Pope quits the Vatican and a pope from Argentina moves in. Still talking. Maybe praying, too.

It’s almost as if the talk has always been there, embedded in the public conversation. When a time capsule buried in a corner of the Massachusetts State House was opened about a month ago, newspapers were found alongside stuff left by Paul Revere in 1795.

Nobody opened up the old newspapers, which is lot like today’s newspapers. But I would love to see the headlines, just to make sure there was no mention of Pacquiao-Mayweather. I’m pretty sure, too, Revere didn’t shout “the fight is coming, the fight is coming’’ on that midnight ride more than two centuries ago. It just seems like it.

In an era defined by 140 characters, little has a shelf life longer than yesterday’s tweet. But Mayweather-Pacquiao is inexhaustible. It’s a virtual commodity, a little bit like Kim Kardashian’s posterior. It just never goes away, which also makes it hard to know what’s fantasy and what’s not.

The talk is as loud now as it was when it started more than half a decade ago. Other than the volume, however, is any of it real? Or is it just more exasperating buzz in another rhetorical sequel to the same old futility?

I was in Las Vegas last week for Deontay Wilder’s heavyweight decision over Bermane Stiverne at the MGM Grand. It was a good fight and a better story. But all of the talk was about you-know-what. There was more speculation in the media workroom than losing wagers in the casino. It’s happening; it’s not happening.

Anticipation has created a bubble and perhaps boxing’s version of Deflate-gate. There’s a growing sense that the air has begun to go out of the talks.

That said, there’s always another rumor, or maybe a daydream. According to one, the bout could be announced in the grandest style possible, say, during the Seattle-New England Super Bowl on Feb. 1. Buy a 30-second spot of advertising for $4 million and announce the Super Bowl of boxing.

A fanciful reach? Maybe. By now, everything about Pacuiao-Mayweather appears to be a reach. In terms of timing, however, it makes some sense. Pacquiao has said his deadline is the end of January. If he doesn’t get an answer from Mayweather by then, it looks as if he’ll move on, perhaps to a bout with former stable-mate Amir Khan.

Meanwhile, Mayweather loves the big stage and nothing is bigger than the Super Bowl.

He said during a radio interview in Australia that talks were ongoing. But red flags are everywhere. In the same interview from Down Under, Mayweather blamed Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum, his bitter rival, for the apparent stall in the reported negotiations.

There’s also plenty of renewed speculation about a Mayweather rematch with Miguel Cotto, whose talks with Canelo Alvarez for a May 2 bout are off the table. Alvarez promoter Oscar De La Hoya said last Saturday before Wilder-Stiverne that Canelo was looking for a different opponent after Cotto failed to accept an offer by Jan. 16. Now, talk is reportedly ongoing for Canelo-James Kirkland.

Going on, but going where? It’s been nowhere for longer than many can remember, or maybe long enough to just hope that it just goes away.

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, the long awaited much anticipated mega battle between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather could be closer to happening as reportedly Pacquiao agreed to all terms of a proposed contract.

Pacquiao and Top Rank, his promoter, have agreed to terms for a May 2 bout, Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti told ESPN.com on Tuesday night, although Mayweather has not yet agreed to terms and it remains to be seen if he will.

“Top Rank and Manny have agreed to the terms on our side. I don’t know about the other side,” Moretti said.

According to a source involved in the negotiations, Pacquiao has agreed to a 40 percent cut of the revenue, leaving Mayweather with the remaining 60 percent of a fight most believe will shatter every boxing box office record, including the all-time pay-per-view buy record of 2.4 million (Mayweather-Oscar De La Hoya), the pay-per-view revenue record of $150 million (Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez) and the all-time gate record of $20 million (Mayweather-Alvarez).

If the fight is finalized, it would take place May 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Moretti said. Mayweather has had his past 10 fights there, and Pacquiao has had five of his past seven bouts there.

However, Moretti said Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs), 36, who has subjected himself (and his opponents) to random testing by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association for his recent bouts, has gone so far as to agree to use the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which has randomly tested Mayweather (and his opponents) for years.

“I think that Manny agreed to USADA testing shows you his eagerness to make this fight,” Moretti said.

By Norm Frauenheim–

Gennady Golovkin’s stop in Los Angeles Wednesday at the end of an international tour for his Feb. 21 bout with Martin Murray in Monaco was an anti-dote, timely relief from speculation about what’s happening or not happening in negotiations for Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Canelo Alvarez-Miguel Cotto.

Boxing is stuck in never-never land these days, but at least there’s Golovkin, who brings a clear sense of purpose and direction to what he’s doing.

Some of the best-known names continue to avoid him with a litany of tired excuses. The latest, Peter Quillin, said Golovkin just isn’t a draw. Huh? Didn’t he just sell out the Stub Hub Center in Carson, Calif., for his quick stoppage of Marco Antonio Rubio? Quillin wishes he could draw crowds like GGG.

But with that unflappable, what-me-worry grin, Golovkin moves forward, telling a news conference that he plans to fight four times in 2015. The Murray bout is intriguing and perhaps Golovkin’s toughest to date.

Murray knocked down Sergio Martinez and lost a 12-round decision to the then middleweight champ in Buenos Aires. The durable Murray promises to test GGG. But the guess here is that Golovkin wins in the late rounds for a 19th successive stoppage.

Then what? Some familiar names were mentioned Wednesday. Golovkin trainer Abel Sanchez continues to talk about Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Chavez, he says, has a style that would produce a dynamically dramatic bout with Golovkin. But Chavez’ contract problems with Top Rank could put him on the legal shelf for a while.

Here’s another idea: Go straight to Canelo Alvarez, the popular Mexican who is moving up weight for a shot at Cotto’s 160-pound title. Canelo has said he’s willing to fight Golovkin. Representatives for Canelo and Cotto are reportedly close to a deal for a May 2 bout, another potential classic in the great Mexican-Puerto Rican rivalry.

There was talk that the agreement would be announced Tuesday. Tuesday came and went with no news. As of Thursday, there was still nothing. A snag? Breakdown? Maybe not. But you never know.

If talks stall, Golovkin should let Golden Boy Promotions know that he’s willing and available for the May 2 date that Canelo wants, no matter happens with Mayweather-Pacquiao and Mayyweather’s attempt to take ownership of the Cinco de Mayo celebration. Mayweather, who calls the prized date Cinco de Mayweather, showed up at a Pacer-Lakers game on Jan. 5 at Staples Center in Los Angeles decked out in Mexican colors.

It was his way of courting Mexican fans. But it could backfire. Mayweather in the green, white and red might be seen as trespassing on Mexico’s historical turf. Meanwhile, Mexican fans already have begun to embrace Golovkin. Before GGG’s victory over Rubio in October, some of those same fans arrived at the Stub Hub Center wearing T-shirts that said: “Mexicans for Golovkin.’’

If Canelo-Golovkin gets done and Canelo wins, then a Golovkin bout could be negotiated for the September date that celebrates Mexican Independence. Mayweather wants to own that date, too. Golovkin could help Canelo in his fight to re-claim it.

By Norm Frauenheim

It’s a year that will be remembered for what didn’t happen. There was still no Manny Pacquaio-Floyd Mayweather Jr., despite the resumption of tired talk. Andre Ward, in his prime and perhaps the sport’s greatest pure talent, didn’t fight at all.

Take 2014, put it in a hefty bag and bury it where nobody can ever find it. Please. It’s been a forgettable year.

“Fans are fed up,’’ Oscar De La Hoya said during a media round-table before Amir Khan’s victory over Devon Alexander on Dec. 13.

Declining pay-per-view numbers are proof of what De La Hoya said. Fans, who made Mayweather the highest earning athlete in the world, are headed for the exits. They’ve already forgotten 2014. The question is whether they’ve forgotten the sport, too. We’ll find out in 2015.

It was a lousy year, but it did produce resiliency that has always been there. Comebacks define boxing. Terence Crawford, Sergey Kovalev, Gennady Golovkin, Roman Gonzalez and Nicholas Walters are the leading names in what might be the beginning of another one. They displayed poise, power, skill and charisma throughout a year that ends with Pacquaio-Mayweather talk still dominating blogs and twitter.

It’s impossible to know whether Pacquiao-Mayweather will ever happen. It’s also reasonable to wonder why anybody should even care anymore. The good news is this: There’s a lengthening line of fighters who look as if they could beat either. Behind Crawford and Golovkin, there was a resurrected Khan and an emerging Keith Thurman.

A year from now, maybe we’ll wonder why we continued to even mention Mayweather-Pacquiao. Maybe, the troubled business can move beyond futile speculation that is more a symbol of what’s wrong than right.

If it happens, a look back at 2014 will include the seeds of the rebirth. Here’s a quick look back at what was right and what might make 2015 memorable:

Man of the Year: Bernard Hopkins. A fighter nearly 50-years-old did what a younger Mayweather and a younger Pacquiao have not. He took a huge risk, a chance against the feared Kovalev. He took a beating, too, in what stands as a tough lesson from a wise elder in how to do business.

Fighter of the Year: The collective (no pun intended) face of the fighter from the former Soviet Union. Without Kovalev, Golovkin, Wladimir Klitschko, Vasyl Lomachenko, Ruslan Provodnikov and others, the future would look a lot more uncertain than it does already.

Comeback of the Year: De La Hoya. He re-opened doors and renewed hopes for again doing business across promotional lines when the Golden Boy Promotions chief approached Bob Arum in a peace offering. It’s still not exactly clear how it will all shake out, especially when it comes to messy questions about who has legal contracts with which fighters. Golden Boy or Al Haymon? But De La Hoya’s initiative is a potential beginning.

Promoter of the Year: Kathy Duva. She had the courage to stand up to Haymon and then the Main Events chief staged Kovalev’s one-sided victory over Bernard Hopkins in a bout that represents a game changer, a model for a New Year and a way out of a very old one.

By Norm Frauenheim-

LAS VEGAS – Boxing’s chessboard is full of potential moves Saturday with dueling cards that include 18 bouts televised by competing networks and each promoted by rivals who are learning how to cooperate.

Look for more lessons than solutions, more possibilities than answers, for a business confronted by declining pay-per-view numbers and no resolution to the tired question about Manny Pacquiao-versus-Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Pacquiao-Mayweather is a riddle without an answer. Yet, it’s always there, taking the air out of the game and, worse, diverting attention from a generation of young fighters who might help everybody forget about what hasn’t happened.

Meet Keith Thurman.

Fight fans know him. So do fighters. But their awareness of him includes emerging fear. Thurman, a welterweight, is beginning to fall into that category occupied by middleweight Gennady Golovkin. He’s somebody to avoid.

Consider this judgment: Oscar De La Hoya was asked Friday to pick between Thurman and Golovkin.

Who’s better?

“Thurman,’’ said De La Hoya, whose Golden Boy entity is promoting the Showtime television card at the MGM Grand that includes Thurman in a co-featured bout before the main event, a possible Mayweather eliminator between Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) and Devon Alexander (26-2, 14 KOs).

Thurman (23-0, 21 KOs), who faces Italy’s Leonard Bundu (31-0-2, 11 KOs), is unlike Golovkin in one key aspect. He isn’t shy.

Thurman might be in a secondary role Saturday night. But he was front-and-center at Friday’s weigh-in.

He mocked Mayweather’s power. Why-oh-why, he asked, should anybody worry about getting knocked out by the so-called pound-for-pound king. Mayweather hasn’t stopped anybody in nearly a generation.

“If anybody should be scared, it’s Floyd Mayweather,’’ said Thurman, who tipped the official scale at 146 pounds during a weigh-in in which everybody made the mandatory except Jose Ramirez (24-3-2, 15 KOs) , the opponent for featherweight Abner Mares (27-1-1, 14 KOs).

Ramirez was three pounds heavier than a catch-weight, 128. He faced a fine if he did not lose the excess pounds. Both Khan and Alexander weighed 147. Thurman’s opponent, Bundu, came in at 146.5.

If Thurman can’t talk his way into a Mayweather bout, he hopes for a chance at Timothy Bradley, who is the star at the top of Bob Arum’s promoted card Saturday at the nearby Cosmopolitan.

Thurman said he wants to be the first to knock out Bradley (31-1, 12 KOs), who faces Argentina’s Diego Chaves (23-2, 19 KOs) in an HBO-televised show.

The forthright Bradley might be the most reliable possibility for Thurman. He says he’ll fight anybody and there’s never been any reason to doubt him. His promoter, Top Rank, however, might have some other ideas. Kell Brook has been mentioned. So, too, has a rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez .

There are, after all, reasons to avoid Thurman. More reasons than even Golovkin, De La Hoya said.

Both possess dangerous power. But De La Hoya says that Thurman possesses an added dimension in his ability to move. Sure, Golovkin is strong.

“Very strong,’’ De La Hoya said. “When Canelo (Alvarez) was sparring him up in Big Bear (Calif.), he said how strong he was. But a lot of fighters are strong. There are ways of beating strong fighters. But one thing about Keith Thurman is that he knows how to move. He has lateral movement. He throws combinations. He thinks in the ring.

“Golovkin is a fighter who has to beat you with his power. He has to. He can’ beat you by moving side-to-side, or going back. The thing about Golovkin – something that I learned from studying him – is that if he moves back, he can’t fight. He can’t fight. He can’t.

“But try and move him back. Good luck.’’

But at least there’s a chance at doing that. Golovkin still represents optimism at creating new business. Same with Thurman. There’s a potential for good luck in both, unlike the Paquiao-Mayweather riddle. By now, we know where that one leads. Still nowhere.

Notes: Jose Benavidez Jr. came in looking hungry at the weigh-in for his first world-class out against Mauricio Herrara on the Bradley-Chaves undercard. The 6-foot Benavidez (21-0, 15 KOs) was 138.5 pounds Friday for the junior welterweight bout. Herrera (21-4, 7 KOs) was 139.5. “I’m ready, more than ready, ’’ said Benavidez, a Phoenix prospect. “ …Irish middleweight Andy Lee (33-2, 23 KOs) tipped the scales at 19.2. Matt Korobov ((24-0, 13 KOs) was 159.4 Korobov-Lee is on the Bradley-Chaves card. …Unpredictable Victor Ortiz was as unpredictable as ever at the weigh-in for his comeback on the Khan-Chaves card. After some verbal taunts from Manuel Perez (21-10-1, 4 KOs), Ortiz (29-5-2, 22 KOs) began to push his welterweight opponent across the stage with the same forehead he used to head-butt Mayweather.

By Norm Frauenheim–

Manny Pacquiao has spoken. Freddie Roach has spoken. Bob Arum and Oscar De La Hoya have spoken. They’re still speaking. We’ve yet to hear from the Republicans and Democrats, but even they’d agree. The bandwagon demand for a Pacquaio-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight is back at the top of the noise meter. It’s as loud as ever. But it’s hard to say whether that means it’s any closer to reality or just back in the same old echo chamber.

Has anybody heard from Mayweather? Hello, Floyd, are you there? Hello, hello?

As of Thursday, there had been no public response from Mayweather, other than an Instagram mocking Pacquiao’s face-down knockout suffered against Juan Manuel Marquez. Zilch, nada, bupkus. It’s impossible to know why. Maybe, Mayweather is talking through back channels, through Al Haymon. That’s the optimistic take. Or maybe he spent Thanksgiving trying to make room for turkey by extracting the foot that has been in his mouth since September when he was ripped for saying that the NFL should not have increased its suspension of Ray Rice from two games to indefinite for a knockout punch of his then fiancé. That’s the cynical take.

The less Mayweather says to the media these days, the better. Over the last three months, the unbeaten Mayweather’s credibility has taken a beating. It continued when he threw Showtime and his own believability under the proverbial bus with comments to the Nevada State Athletic Commission that some segments in All-Access were more entertainment than real, more fiction than fact.

There’s no change at the top of the pound-for-pound debate. Mayweather is the consensus No. 1; Pacquiao is among the top five, depending on the rating. In terms of their public profiles, however, there’s no comparison anymore. Where there’s mistrust in Mayweather, there’s renewed credibility for Paquiao. Before and after his blow out of Chris Algieri, he picked up endorsements with Foot Locker and AirAsia. Mayweather’s endorsements? Zilch, nada, bupkus.

Pacquiao’s commercial success gives him a media presence that Mayweather doesn’t have. That was oh-so evident in the entertaining Foot Locker ad that gave Pacquiao a subtle, yet effective way of talking about the Mayweather fight without mentioning Mayweather himself. It’s safe to say that one annoyed Mayweather, who was frustrated several weeks ago when a Jamaican woman in a London barbershop didn’t recognize him. The guess here is that she probably would recognize Pacquiao. She, like most people, sees more ads than pay-per-view boxing. The endorsements give Pacquiao a bully pulpit. Mayweather has Instagram.

But it’s hard to judge whether the power in Pacquiao’s endorsements and universal support will finally make the fight. This isn’t a democracy. Without Mayweather’s vote, it stays in never-never land.

The best guess here is that Mayweather, the cautious counter-puncher, is waiting on some leverage. As of Thursday, there had still been no reports on HBO’s pay-per-view number from Pacquaio’s six-knockdown demolition of Algieri in Macao. By the way, has anybody ever witnessed six knockdowns in what was supposed to be a major fight? Howard Cosell, remembered for Down Goes Frazier, would have ruptured a vocal chord. But we digress.

Disappointing PPV numbers would give Mayweather a potential edge at the negotiating table. That’s when he might begin talking. A civil claim by his ex-fiance, Shantel Jackson, is another potential factor. In a suit filed by legal gunslinger Gloria Allred, Jackson alleges assault, battery and invasion of privacy. TMZ reported Wednesday that Mayweather’s attorneys filed court documents asking for dismissal of some claims. According to the documents, Mayweather argues he did not violate her right to privacy when he reported through social media that they split because she had an abortion.

A judge has has yet to rule. Safe to say, however, the suit has the potential to be messy, explosive and expensive. There are unsourced reports in the Philippines that Mayweather could be guaranteed $100 million in a Pacquiao fight. A percentage of that speculated number represents a lot of money in an out-of-court settlement or a judgement against Mayweather for a piece of his future earnings.

Come to think of it, it says more than Pacquiao, Roach, Arum, De La Hoya and the media could ever say. It also might explain why Mayweather hasn’t said anything at all.

LAS VEGAS — Floyd Mayweather Jr. kept alive his pursuit of an unbeaten legacy. Kept his fingers, too.

In a rematch full of some unusual twists and Marcos Maidana’s mouth full of more than a mouthpiece, the result Saturday night at the MGM Grand was predictable.

Mayweather (47-0, 26 KOs) shook off some heavy punches from the wild-swinging Maidana (35-5, 31 KOs) in the early rounds, began to exert control midway through the fourth round and landed with precision throughout the rest of the fight for a 116-111, 115-112, 116-111 decision. On the 15 Rounds card, it was 115-113 for Mayweather.

Only a knockout eluded Mayweather in the rematch of his majority decision over Maidana in May. A KO was his goal, he said several times before opening bell.

“I give myself a C, C-minus,” Mayweather said after the fourth fight in a Showtime deal for a possible six fights and a potential $250 million.

A chance at a stoppage for an A might have been eliminated in the eighth round. That’s when Mayweather said Maidana bit him on his gloved left hand.

No, Maidana said. How could he bite anybody with a plastic guard on his teeth? Video of the mount appeared to
inclusive. But Mayweather walked over toward the press section, leaned over the ropes and yelled that Maidana bit him.

“After the eighth round, my fingers were numb,” Mayweather said. “I couldn’t use my left hand.”

His right was more than enough against Maidana, who appeared to grow increasingly wild with each round. In the 10th, Maidana was penalized a point for pushing Mayweather onto the canvas. It almost looked as if Maidana was about to walk over Myyweather like a fallen pedestrian about to get trampled. In the 11th, Mayweather was warned for a low blow. Maidana was given time to recover. Mayweather impatiently waved at him, urging to continue the fight. It was as if Mayweather wanted to finish the business at hand and move on to the next fight.

When it was time to address what was next, he was asked the inevitable. He was asked about Manny Pacquiao. When isn’t he? Pacquiao-Mayweather has been the subject of futile talks and rumors for years. It won’t die. The surprise was that Mayweather kept it alive this time around. He usually dismisses it.

“Manny Pacquiao, if that fight presents itself, let’s make it happen,” he said.

There wasn’t much doubt and Leo Santa Cruz made sure of it with a devastating one-punch demolition of Manuel Roman that strengthened his claim on being one of the world’s best junior-featherweights.

“I want to fight Guillermo Rigondeaux,” Santa Cruz said of the Cuban who is considered to be No. 1 in the competitive weight class.

Roman (17-3-3, 6 KOs) was just an impressive work out for Santa Cruz, who stayed unbeaten (28-0-1, 16 KOs) and retained the WBC version of the 122-pound title. In the second round, Santa Cruz grazed Roman, his former sparring partner and a 50-to-1 underdog at the sports book, with a jab. He followed with a straight right that landed on the soft tissue behind a Roman ear. Roman collapsed. As he tried to get up, referee Robert Byrd ended it at 5 seconds of the round.

It wouldn’t be a fight card without a wild card. It came in Mickey Bey’s split decision over Miguel Vazquez for the IBF’s lightweight title. It was deadly dull, which means it could have been a draw. After the boos, the first two scores were announced. A draw sounded likely. Judge Julie Lederman had it 115-113 for the Mayweather-promoted Bey (21-1-1, 10 KOs) of Cleveland. Adalaide Byrd scored it 115-113 for Vazquez (34-4, 13 KOs) of Mexico. But it was Robert Hoyle who dealt the wild card, 119-109 for Bey, who bloodied Vazquez early, yet was never dominant enough to win by a double-digit margin.

James De La Rosa of San Benito, Tex., celebrated with a back-flip. When he landed, he stumbled. But he didn’t fall. Nothing could knock De La Rosa (23-2, 13 KOs) off his feet. Alfredo Angulo (224, 18 KOs), of Mexicali, tried in a furious finish to a 10-round middleweight bout in the first pay-pr-view fight on the Floyd-Mayweather Jr.-Marcos Maidana card. Angulo landed a couple of wicked left hooks and followed with successive rights, but De La Rosa survived to win a unanimous decision over a bloodied Angulo, who lost the first eight rounds, suffered a knockdown in the second and was penalized one point in the seventh for a low blow.

In a foul-fest, Mexican junior-welterweight Humberto Soto suffered two low-blows and was penalized for throwing one of his own, yet survived to win by unanimous decision over John Molina Jr. of Covina, Ca., in a Showtime telecast before the first pay-per-view fight.

Molina (27-5, 22 KOs), who appeared to throw punches after the bell in the early rounds, was penalized for low-blows in the sixth and seventh. Soto (65-8, 35 KOs) retaliated and it cost him a one-point penalty in the tenth. In the end, however Soto was the stronger fighter and a 95-92, 96-91, 95-92 winner on the cards.

Las Vegas cruiserweight Andrew Tabiti, who promises to take the snoozer out of cruiser, continued to display power and promise, pushing his record to 8-0, all by stoppage, with a sixth-round TKO of Caleb Grummet (3-2, 3 KOs) of Lake Odessa, Mich. Tabiti dominated Grummet for five-plus rounds before Vic Drakulich stopped it at 2:01 of the sixth.

Armando Lopes scored the undercard’s first upset, beating junior-welterweight prospect Damian Sosa of Argentina in the third bout on the card’s non-televised portion. Sosa (8-1, 6 KOs), a Robert Gracia-trained fighter, suffered a knockdown in the second round and never really recovered, losing a unanimous decision to Lopes (5-3, 1 KOs) of Nogales, Mexico.

In the second bout on the non-televised portion of the card, welterweight Fabian Maidana (3-0, 2 KO) got things warned up for brother Marcos with a first-round stoppage of Jared Teer (2-3), an Illinois fighter was knocked twice in the opening moments.

Super-middleweight Kevin Newman and Azamat Umarzoda opened the show two hours after high noon and about five hours before the Floyd Mayweather Jr.- Marcos Maidana Saturday at the MGM Grand. Seats were empty. But there wasn’t much to see, anyway. Newman (0-0-1), of Mayweather Promotions, and Umarzoda (0-5-2) of Tajikistan, fought to a draw through an uneventful four rounds.

By Norm Frauenheim–

There are losers aplenty in the wake of the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.-Gennady Golovkin possibility headed to never-never land, right there alongside the Manny Paquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fantasy. There are the fans, of course. But there’s nothing new about that. Their hopes are always first to take a beating.

They’ll be back.

But you have to wonder whether Chavez Jr. ever will.

An intriguing Chavez-Golovkin fight, which had been scheduled for July 19 at the old Forum in Inglewood, Calif., is off the board because of failed negotiations between Chavez and Top Rank.

Depending on the source, Chavez Jr. said no to a contract extension that Top Rank said it wanted as insurance if the fight failed to make money. According to Yahoo, Chavez manager Billy Keane said Top Rank’s offer for just the Golovkin fight was for 70 percent less than what it offered for a two-fight extension. According to Ringtv.com, Top Rank’s Bob Arum said Chavez Jr. could have made $12 million for two fights in the event of a loss to Golovkin and $17 million if he beat him.

Follow the money, and Chavez Jr doesn’t look good from either side of the table. Fair or not, public perception figures to interpret the failed negotiations as a way for Chavez Jr. to sidestep a fight he couldn’t win against the most feared fighter in the game. Chavez Jr. needed an escape clause and Top Rank gave him one with that two-fight option.

It’s a move that is bound to make Chavez Jr. look bad in the eyes of Mexican fans. Canelo Alvarez readily stepped up and asked for a fight against Erislandy Lara on July 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. More hype is attached to Golovkin than Lara, but Lara is every bit as dangerous as the middleweight from Kazakhstan. Canelo never looked for a way out against the slickly-skilled Cuban, who presents some of the same challenges that Mayweather did in his one-sided victory over the red-headed Mexican last September.

But the perception will be that Chavez looked for an escape and found one. After all, he always has. At almost every turn, there has been an excuse – a way out. Chavez was allowed to train whenever and wherever he wanted before his loss to Sergio Martinez, which was followed by a positive test for marijuana. He said he couldn’t make weight for Bryan Vera. Then, he was allowed to weigh whatever he wanted before winning a controversial decision over Vera in Carson, Calif. At the end of the buffet table, there was no end to the enablers, including Top Rank.

But even Top Rank appears to have lost its patience with the 28-year-old Chavez. The two-fight option includes an unspoken option to walk away. The guess is that Top Rank won’t shed any tears if he does. Arum went public with his exasperation before Chavez Jr. won a rematch over Vera in San Antonio. By then, it was becoming loud and clear that there was a growing disconnect between Julio Jr. and Mexican fans. Only the name connects the son to his legendary dad. There were boos in Carson, Calif., for the first Vera fight. There was a smaller crowd than expected, about 7,300, at San Antonio’s Alamodome for the rematch.

Even the best trainers of the day opted not to work with him. Freddie Roach left him after the loss to Martinez. Robert Garcia chose not to work with him before the Vera rematch. A year from now, Chavez Jr. might regret turning down Top Rank’s option. It’s beginning to look as if he doesn’t have many left.

Never-ending speculation about Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao is boxing’s version of Groundhog Day, the 1993 film starring Bill Murray as a weatherman trapped in time, re-living the same day everyday until he gets it right.

Getting it right, of course, means an actual fight. Without one, we’ll only hear more of the same talk. I’d rather be a groundhog. More of the same seemed to be the message in Mayweather’s New Year’s missive in comments to FightHype. He ripped Pacquiao all over again. That’s not exactly news. On the surface, Mayweather made it sound as if there’s no chance that the two would ever agree to a fight.

But the timing was curious. Mayweather’s latest trashing of Pacquiao happened a few days after they actually agreed on something. Both dismissed an un-sourced story that reported they would fight in September.

Mayweather called the report “a lie.” Pacquiao said it was untrue.

Then, Pacquiao told Yahoo’s Filipino correspondent that they could only “talk about a possible fight next year” and only if there’s no new deal with Top Rank. Pacquiao’s Top Rank contract ends at the end of 2014. Within a few days, Mayweather delivered his rant. But why? Why now?

If Mayweather didn’t really want to fight Pacquaio, wouldn’t he’d quit talking about him? Wouldn’t he ignore Pacquiao altogether? If you’re not interested, why mention his name at all? But Mayweather chose that moment to re-ignite a possibility that had been muted throughout most of 2013.

Mayweather, who is as clever a promoter as he is a fighter, understands that the beginning of any fight starts with gaining the upper hand, a psychological edge, even before negotiations begin. He repeated a lot of the same old insults, but his comments were significant in what they indicated. If he’s talking about Pacquiao in any way, he’s probably thinking about a fight everybody still wants to see. Talk is the first step, but maybe a calculated one.

For Mayweather, Pacquiao appears to be something of a straw man anyway. Mayweather’s real target looks to be Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter. Mayweather trashes Pacquiao to get at Arum. Mayweather says there’ll be no fight with Pacquaio as long as he is represented by Arum. It’s as if Mayweather is trying to get Pacquiao to leave Arum. The Filipino has been Top Rank’s biggest money earner for nearly a decade. Top Rank without Pacquiao is a promotional entity without its biggest star. In Mayweather’s bitter rivalry with Arum, that would rank as a significant victory for Mayweather.

There are plenty of reasonable ways to interpret what Mayweather says and doesn’t say, but it’s impossible to separate anything he does form the context of his Showtime contract, a 30-month deal for a possible six fights and a potential $250 million. For that kind of money, you’d think that Showtime would get some say-so. It’s safe to say that Showtime — and its bosses at CBS — would love to have Pacquiao-Mayweather.

On Feb. 19, Mayweather’s landmark deal with Showtime will be two fights and 12 months old. In 2014, let’s assume he fights Amir Khan in May and Marcos Maidana in September. If he wins both, Mayweather would be 47-0, two victories away from equalling Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 milestone.

Over the first six months of 2015, he could maximize the contract’s potential with two more fights, the second of which might be for his legacy against the very fighter he trashed a few days ago. It’s only trash talk if there’s no plan. The timing makes it look as if Mayweather has one.

LONDON (21 Nov) – Boxing’s biggest-ever money fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao could finally take place according to a key player behind the negotiations.

Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, who promotes the Filipino superstar, admitted to BoxNation that there is genuine will on his part to make the fight happen should Pacquiao overcome the relentless Brandon Rios in Macau, China this weekend.

The matchup between boxing’s two superstar names has long been mooted, ever since both men became household pay-per-view draws.

However, failure on the part of both camps to get round the negotiating table, following back-and-forth mudslinging, has led to a standoff which has prevented boxing’s premier matchup from being made.

But Arum has now revealed that it is a fight he is determined to make happen and is prepared to sit down with Mayweather’s team to put together what will be the biggest prize-fight in history.

“On our side the answer is yes [the fight can be made in 2014], we’re very open to it,” said Arum. “There are ways it can get done, they have to dumb down the rhetoric, we are prepared to dumb down the rhetoric and get it done. There is no real impediment to having that fight happen whether it will or not depends completely on the Mayweather side. I can see it happening but I can’t predict that it will happen because it takes two to tango.” he said.

One potential stumbling block to the bout being made is the US TV issue, with Top Rank fighters appearing on HBO and Mayweather, who signed a multi-million pound six-fight deal last year, fighting on Showtime.

Arum, though, believes the blueprint on how to overcome the issue has been laid out from previous superfights.

“You’ve got to go back in history when Lennox Lewis, who fought for HBO, fought against Mike Tyson who was a Showtime fighter. Both networks participated in the promotion so that’s a road map of how we get this thing done,” stated Arum.
Manny Pacquiao vs. Brandon Rios is live and exclusive on BoxNation (Sky Ch. 437/Virgin Ch 546) this Sunday at 1.30am. Visit www.boxnation.com to subscribe.

BoxNation will donate £2 from every new subscription this week to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s appeal for victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan.

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There may never be a Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fight and there’s no reason to review, ad nauseam, all of the things that have made it unlikely. Yet, the two will be linked forever by a debate about an element that defines what they do.

If all goes as predicted on Sept. 14 with Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas and again on Nov. 23 with Pacquaio-Brandon Rios at Macau in a Vegas re-creation on the Chinese island of Macau, 2013 will end with talk about legacy. What is it? What does it mean? Does it even matter?

It’s a word that gets thrown around often and easily these days, which means it could be about anything and a mouthful of nothing. For all that it matters, legacy could be just another fast-food chain during an era when everybody seems to have a super-sized one.

But Mayweather-Canelo and Pacquiao-Rios have the potential to re-focus the argument, if not re-define the word. Besides, it might be all we have as a way to judge who was the best of his generation.

It breaks down this way:

For Mayweather, the assumption has always been that his legacy hinges on retiring unbeaten. There’s nothing to counter that. He could finish 49-0 if he decides to retire at the conclusion of his Showtime contract.

For Pacquiao, it isn’t an assumption. It’s an urgent bit of reality. He has to beat Rios in a style that says he wasn’t finished at the very second he fell, face-first and lifeless, onto the canvas from Juan Manuel Marquez’ right-handed shot in December. Add to that, Pacquiao is coming off successive losses – first by a controversial decision to Timothy Bradley and then Marquez.

In one of those spontaneous moments of candor that have always made Pacquiao likable, the Filipino Congressman acknowledged that the stakes were high, even daunting.

“I am feeling a little pressure for this fight,’’ Pacquiao said in Macau during a world-wide media tour with enough frequent-flier miles for a free ride on the next trip to an international space station.

The pressure falls more on Pacquiao than Mayweather, mostly because nobody – not even Pacquiao — can be certain about who the Filipino is anymore. Then, there’s Rios, who is as tough as he is wild. The pre-Marquez Pacquiao might have knocked out Rios as surely and dramatically as he did Ricky Hatton in 2009.

But the post-Marquez Pacquiao?

In that gray margin of uncertainty, there’s adversity. Pacquiao has already overcome some in his comeback from a 2005 loss to Erik Morales. He dealt with defeat and conquered the lingering doubt by beating Morales twice in subsequent rematches. But the adversity was never at this level and never in China where he is a key to Top Rank’s designs on a new market.

If Mayweather’s blueprint plays out as intended, we may never know how he deals with defeat. In Canelo, he faces a tough and emerging star. Power in Canelo’s combinations gives him an early chance. But the prevailing guess is that Mayweather is catching him early in his career and few years before his prime. For Canelo, the predicted consolation is a good lesson in a loss, his first. For Mayweather, the fight looks like another step toward an unbeaten career.

Let’s assume all of the early predictions are correct: Mayweather wins a unanimous decision and Pacquiao conquers early uncertainty en route to a definitive victory by late-round stoppage.

Whose legacy counts for more? From this corner, dealing with defeat – coming back from it – is a key to judging a fighter’s career. To wit: Would Muhammad Ali have become the icon he is today had he not had to come back from the 1971 loss to Joe Frazier? Ali’s resilience and character were illuminated in how he subsequently dealt with a crushing loss.

Mayweather has a chance to equal Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 record. He might even surpass it if – as he has hinted – he decides to extend his career by beyond his current Showtime deal. Unbeaten is impossible to ignore. The NFL’s 1972 Miami Dolphins and college basketball’s 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers are reference points in their own sports.

But adversity, perhaps more than in any other sport, is as much a part of boxing as blood, bruises and scars. It’s part of the drama. Why we watch. A record without a comeback from defeat is somehow incomplete. That explains, in part, why Marciano doesn’t rank higher on all-time pound-for-pound lists.

If Pacquiao deals with the pressures, potential demons and scores a predicted stoppage a couple of months after Mayweather wins a decision, he’ll overtake Mayweather and hold a narrow edge on at least this legacy card. But the devil in the details is a wildcard called Rios, who could make the debate moot and turn Mayweather into the decade’s runaway winner.

Talk about Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. is back like a bad hangover. Everybody seems to have an interpretation, if not a prediction, in the wake of a settlement to Pacquiao’s defamation suit and his offer to give Mayweather the lion’s share in a 55-45 split.

It’s as if Pacquiao’s rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez in their fourth meeting on Dec. 8 doesn’t matter. Maybe, it doesn’t, which is good reason for Marquez to worry about Robbery IV. The public and media fixation on Pacquiao-Mayweather won’t go away and perhaps won’t let anything stand in its way

That said, there’s been a shift in public sentiment and in Pacquiao himself. Combine the two, and only Marquez matters – or should – in any talk about Pacquiao-Mayweather. If Pacquiao loses, the Filipino Congressman becomes a full time politician. He has talked about leaving the ring. Marquez could hasten that departure.

Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach is concerned on a couple of levels.

First, there’s sympathy for Marquez and his argument that he was robbed in the narrow decisions, split and majority, that went against him in the first and second rematches. Scorecards can be like ballots. They’re subjective.

“I think we go into the fight three to four rounds down already,’’ Roach said about the Marquez bout when it was still being negotiated a couple of days before he worked Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s loss to Sergio Martinez on Sept. 15 at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center.

That means Pacquaio has to win by knockout. That would be a first. Marquez, who has six losses, has never been stopped. Given the narrow 36 rounds that already have transpired and Pacquiao’s record of no stoppages in five fights since a 2009 TKO of Miguel Cotto, Pacquiao by KO is a very tall order.

Roach says the task in camp at the Wild Card Gym will be to rediscover Pacquiao’s old aggression, which has withered for reasons that aren’t clear.

Compassion, perhaps the born-again expression of Pacquiao’s return to a Catholic lifestyle, has lessened the ferocity for which there was no refuge for so many of his fallen foes, Roach says. It was evident in 2010 when Pacquiao almost begged referee Laurence Cole to stop what he wouldn’t in a brutal decision over Antonio Margarito at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex.

Then again, it wasn’t enough in 2004 when Pacquiao, then at his ferocious best, knocked down Marquez three times in the first round, but never out during the next 11 in a bout that ended in a draw.

Roach says Pacquiao’s physical skills are as sharp as ever, although there seemed to be a missing gear in the hand speed throughout his controversial loss by decision to Timothy Bradley on June 9. From Erik Morales to Oscar De La Hoya, Pacquiao threw punches at a rate that overwhelmed. Against Bradley, that rate proved pedestrian.

But Roach is convinced that those hands will move at a ruthless rate if Pacquiao’s heart still has the streak of larceny needed in a brutal business.

Will it?

“I don’t know,’’ Roach said. “That’s the challenge.’’

The only one.

Judges have been tough during the last week on the only two fighters the general public knows.

First, three judges score against Manny Pacquiao in a split decision met by unanimous outrage. Then, Melissa Saragosa, a Las Vegas justice of the peace, hands down a judgment denying Mayweather’s motion to finish his 87-day sentence at home instead of jail, the Big Boy Mansion instead of the Big House.

A controversial boxing decision and an attempt to escape jail time might be as comparable as Pacquiao’s suite at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay and Mayweather’s lonely cell at Nevada’s Clark County Detention Center. There weren’t any mints on Mayweather’s pillow to console him on the night after Saragosa said no Wednesday to his attorney’s emergency filing 10 days into his sentence for domestic abuse.

Nevertheless, I can’t help but think that the way each behaved in the face of recent adversity says something about how they are perceived — at least this week — by all of those judges in the court of public opinion.

Pacquiao won.

Mayweather lost.

Pacquiao exhibited Ernest Hemingway’s definition of courage – grace under pressure. While saying he thought he won, Pacquiao also said he did his best. His best, he said Saturday night, just wasn’t good enough for the judges. Accept it, use it as motivation and move on.

A couple of days later, Mayweather’s attorney files a motion that makes him sound like Paris Hilton. He has to drink tap water instead of bottled water. The jailhouse menu doesn’t include any of the meals his personal chef prepares. What did Mayweather expect? Twenty-four-hour room service?

It’s impossible to really know how Mayweather would have reacted to the split-decision that went against Pacquiao in his loss to Timothy Bradley. But it’s fair to wonder. The guess in this corner is that he would have raged into the night with bursts of profanity and perhaps tears. We’ve seen both, especially in his up-and-down relationship with Larry Merchant of Home Box Office, which will replay the controversial fight Saturday night as part of a telecast featuring the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.- Andy Lee bout in El Paso, Tex.

There’s a lot to like about Mayweather. In early May, it looked as if he was winning his fight with Pacquiao in the court of public opinion, which might be the only place we’ll ever see them fight.

He beat Miguel Cotto in an admirable, bruising confrontation. He apologized to Merchant and conducted a civil interview in the middle of the ring after the bout. Mayweather looked and acted like a grown-up. At the time, Pacquiao’s reputation was taking a beating for issues involving taxes and customs at home in the Philippines.

After the last week, however, it’s hard to know whether Pacquiao or Mayweather is the overall leader in the court of public opinion, which might be the only way to decide who deserves to be the pound-for-pound champ. You be the judge.

NOTES, QUOTES
For the record: In a freelance gig for the New York Times, I quit scoring Pacquiao-Bradley after seven rounds. I had Pacquiao leading, six rounds to one. I thought it was over. I started writing a story about a Pacquiao victory. Rookie mistake. After deleting the lead and re-writing in Usain Bolt time, I watched a replay. I scored it 116-112, — eight rounds to four – for Pacquiao.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all: Bradley, tough and admirable, has to be the first fighter to show up at a post-fight news conference as a winner in a wheelchair. He suffered injuries to both ankles in the early rounds while scrambling to get away from a lethal left thrown by Pacquiao, who emerged from the fight unmarked. Those Pacquiao lefts might be boxing’s version of basketball’s ankle-breaking moves.

AZ NOTES
Junior-welterweight Azriel Paez (2-0) is featured in the main event Saturday night at Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix against Michael Salcido (1-3) of Eloy, Ariz. Paez’ dad is the entertaining ex-featherweight champ Jorge Paez, who is expected to be at ringside. Roger Mayweather, Floyd’s trainer and uncle, also is expected to work the corner for fighters he trains in Las Vegas.

The card is scheduled for 10 fights, including David Benavidez — the younger brother of unbeaten Phoenix junior-welterweight prospect Jose Benavidez Jr. — in one of two amateur bouts. First bell is scheduled for 7 p.m.

On the 41st anniversary Thursday of the first Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight, random reflections and recollections while wondering if there will be ever be a Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao anniversary:

· Sorry for wondering at all, but at least I didn’t have to wonder for long. Chances aren’t good that history will repeat itself with a fight remembered in the next century.

· Thursday’s anniversary of Frazier’s epic decision over Ali in 1971 at Madison Square Garden is the first since Frazier died in November. On the 25th anniversary, I sat with Frazier in Indianapolis at a luncheon sponsored by the U.S. Olympic Committee during 1996 swimming trials. Film of the bout played on screens in every corner of the room. I asked Frazier about Ali’s terrible fight with Parkinson’s. “You see that right hand, you see that left,’’ Frazier, a 1964 gold medallist, said as he pointed at the screen with the right he had landed that night. “That’s why he has problems.’’ Frazier never forgot. Rest in peace, Joe.

· Some Puerto Rican history is at stake Saturday night at Roberto Clemente Stadium in San Juan. For two decades, Puerto Rico’s proud boxing heritage has been sustained, first by Felix Trinidad and then by Miguel Cotto. Juan Manuel Lopez has been the designated successor. But that uninterrupted line of succession is in danger in a Showtime-televised rematch with Mexican Orlando Salido, who in April knocked out Lopez. Lopez has talked about distractions – marital strife and weight problems – before the loss. Safe to say, Puerto Ricans don’t want hear about any more distractions. At home, all of the pressure is on Lopez. The pick here: Lopez, in a late-round stoppage.

· Pacquiao is suing an Asian journalist for libel in a story that linked him to a carjacker, is thinking about running for the Filipino presidency and is facing a complaint from Filipino tax authorities, who have questions about his documentation. Those are the headlines, all within a couple of days and each with only passing reference to the Congressman’s June 9 fight against dangerous Timothy Bradley. Distractions have always followed Pacquiao. But these aren’t about singing, or basketball, or movie-making. They are the kind that dog and define prominent politicians. Fulltime ones, too.

· Just when I thought Missing was a new ABC series starring Ashley Judd as a mom searching for her son, Yuriokis Gamboa doesn’t show up. Gamboa went missing, not one but twice, first in Miami and then in Los Angeles for news conferences scheduled to hype what now appears to be a tentative – very tentative – bout with Brandon Rios on April 14. Rumor is that Gamboa is unhappy with Bob Arum’s Top Rank and wants to jump to Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s promotional company. If true, that will be another reason for Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, to detest Mayweather and just another reason to think that Pacquiao-Mayweather won’t happen.

AZ NOTES
Another chapter in Arizona’s comeback from the immigration controversy, SB 1070, will happen this spring, first on March 23 at Tucson’s Casino del Sol with a ShoBox-televised card featuring Las Vegas super-featherweight Diego Magdaleno.

It’s intriguing, in part because Antonio Margarito’s brother-in-law, bantamweight Hanzel Martinez, is scheduled for the undercard. Martinez got interested in boxing when he used to run with Margarito. The March 23 card might set the stage in May for a Margarito fight in Arizona, his first since his loss in a December rematch to Miguel Cotto.

On April 21, Iron Boy Promotions plans to be back in Phoenix for an encore of its Feb .17 debut in front of near capacity crowd at Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix. On May 4, Michelle Rosado, who took the lead in re-opening the Phoenix boxing market, will promote in southern Arizona for the first time on May 4 with a card at Desert Diamond Casino, where Golden Boy Promotions had a good run before leaving because of the cost and license restrictions brought on by SB1070.

For the congregation that still prays for Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr., pray a little harder that the born-again Pacquiao isn’t struck by a head butt from Tim Bradley that ruptures old wounds above a right eye with scars that might as well look like a target.

A perfect storm of circumstances are aligned for just such a collision in the Bradley-Pacquiao fight on June 9 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. Head butts are already more likely in a bout between a southpaw and an orthodox fighter. Between the left-handed Pacquiao and the orthodox Bradley, one and more are an even better bet than a Pacquiao victory.

Start with each fighter’s past. Start with Bradley’s head. It has become a weapon, notorious and dangerous. Accidental butts led to cuts that resulted in his last victory, a 10th-round technical decision, over a bloodied Devon Alexander last winter in Detroit.

Pacquiao has suffered cuts above the right eye repeatedly, once in a decision last year over orthodox Shane Mosley in May and again in November with a gash deep enough to expose bone in the 10th round of his controversial decision over orthodox Juan Manuel Marquez. It was caused by – you guessed it – a head butt. Twenty-eight stitches were needed to close that one.

The lengthy healing process was mentioned as a reason Pacquiao couldn’t fight Mayweather on May 5. The real truth might be more about money than stitches. The danger now, however, is that there won’t be any argument left about Pacquiao-Mayweather next November if Bradley’s head lands all over again.

Remember this: A cut over that same eye appeared to the biggest factor in Pacquiao’s last loss by unanimous decision to orthodox Erik Morales in 2005. The cut was sustained in the fifth round from a clash of heads. Then, it was called accidental. If it happens again, it won’t be called coincidental. It will be remembered as an avoidable obstacle standing in the way of the one fight the world has wanted to see.

Gonzales wants to fight on
Jesus Gonzales of Phoenix plans to continue fighting despite a loss that, at first glance, appeared to be a career-ender Saturday when Adonis Stevenson dropped him with left hands 99 seconds after the opening bell in Montreal.

The 27-year-old Gonzales (27-2, 14 KOs) wants to move back down in weight, from super-middle (168 pounds) to middle (160), according to his promoter, Canadian Darin Schmick of FanBase.

Stevenson (17-1, 14 KOs) overwhelmed Gonzales, perhaps because he was the bigger, stronger fighter, although Gonzales never even attempted to circle away from the known power in Stevenson’s left . He simply walked right into it, almost as if he were walking into an oncoming locomotive.

Gonzales also has talked about finding a new trainer. He has mentioned Robert Garcia, who is already busy with Brandon Rios, Nonito Donaire and Antonio Margarito. A revolving corner has been a problem for Gonzales, who took the Stevenson fight on late notice.

In Montreal, Gonzales father, Ernie, was back in his corner. His dad, his trainer for the first part of his pro career and throughout his brilliant days as an amateur, had decided to step away. But he worked with him for nearly four weeks of training in Calgary.

Gonzales’ plans, however, hinge on an MRI to determine if he suffered head trauma, Schmick said. Gonzales, who lost by TKO in 2005 to Jose Luis Zertuche in his only other loss, was knocked out for the first time in his career by Stevenson. The KO means he’ll need a clean MRI to get licensed, said Schmick, who was trying to put Gonzales in position for a shot at Andre Ward. Ward’s last loss was to Gonzales when both were amateurs.

NOTES, COUNTERS
Alexander tries to put his career back on track against dangerous Marcos Maidana Saturday in St. Louis, Alexander’s hometown. He said he’d like another shot at Bradley, although he also said something in a conference call that might serve as a warning to Pacquiao. “You can’t train for head butts,’’ Alexander said. “You can’t train to get head-butted and to get your eye all messed up.’’

And there’s no truth to the rumor that the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation – the Lone Star State’s boxing commission — conducted the drug testing for Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun, whose 50-game suspension was overturned Thursday. Apparently, protocol wasn’t followed. In San Antonio, the Texas commissioners forgot to test Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. after he beat Marco Antonio Rubio on Feb. 4. Details, those pesky details.

Dan Rafael of espn.com is reporting that Floyd Mayweather placed a phone call to Manny Pacquiao in an effort to make a mega fight between the two superstars for May 5th.

“They spoke,” Leonard Ellerbe, one of Mayweather’s advisers, told ESPN.com on Thursday.

Mayweather provided details of his conversation with Pacquiao in an email to ESPN anchor Stan Verrett.

“I called him and asked him about us fighting May 5 and giving the World what they want to see,” Mayweather’s email read. “I also let him know we both can make a lot of money. He ask about a 50/50 split and I told him no that can’t happen, but what can happen is you can make more money fighting me then you have made in your career. I also let him know I’m in control on my side but he needs to get on the same page with his promoter so we can make this fight happen.”

The message continued: “I told him to tell his promoter that he only wants to fight Mayweather and that this fight will be the biggest fight in history. His manger came to my boxing gym a few months ago and we spoke about getting the defamation of character lawsuit dropped against me and about both fighters taking the random blood and urine test. I spoke to his manager again last night about the same thing. The call last night lasted 15 or 20 minutes. I mainly spoke to his manager he got on and off the phone real quick.”

Ellerbe said he was unsure how Mayweather obtained Pacquiao’s direct line but added, “I’m sure that’s not hard to get or find out because there have been members of Manny Pacquiao’s camp who have reached out to me and other members of our team in the past. It wouldn’t be that hard.”

On Thursday in Las Vegas, where Mayweather donated $100,000 to the Southern Nevada affiliate of the Susan G. Komen breast cancer charity as part of his promise to the judge, he spoke about his desire to face Pacquiao with a handful of media on hand.

“There is no fight I want more than the Manny Pacquiao fight,” Mayweather told the gathered media. “I guess he said he agreed to fight. The only thing that is stopping this fight right now, that I truly believe is stopping the fight, is Bob Arum.”

The ever-unpredictable Floyd Mayweather Jr. has given Manny Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum another reason not to use his Twitter account.

There might be some unreported negotiations going on somehow, on some planet, for the fight always under discussion, yet still in never-never land Thursday. But I’ll believe that Mayweather is fighting Manny Pacquiao only at the very moment they answer an opening bell. Everything else about this process without end is sad comedy.

Anybody laughing? Actually, I did the other day when Mayweather resorted to Twitter in an attempt to say he’s serious about fighting Pacquiao on May 5. “Step up, punk,’’ Mayweather tweeted. He might as well have broadcast his message on a back-alley wall with a spray-can full of paint. Mayweather’s tweet was digital graffiti.

If negotiations for the richest fight in history can be conducted via Twitter, President Tweet will move into the White House next January. Come on Floyd, be serious. As social media, Twitter is fun. It’s also a good way to see what’s trending, which the Pacquiao-Mayweather won’t be if negotiations are limited to 140 characters.

QUOTES, ANECDOTES & COUNTERS
The Mayweather-Pacquiao mess and ad nauseam qualify as a redundancy. Blame everybody, including the media.

It’s hard to believe Arum’s latest warning that Pacquiao’s can’t fight until early June instead of early May because of a cut above an eye suffered against Juan Manuel Marquez in November. The bigger wound might have been to Pacquiao’s confidence after he escaped with a controversial decision over Marquez. Pacquiao might need a tune-up to recover from that one.

In saying a fight with Mayweather would be better in late May instead of early May, Pacquiao advisor Michael Koncz says he want to maximize financial opportunities by holding the fight in a temporary, 40,000-seat arena on the Las Vegas Strip. Apparently, it’ll take more time to build the outdoor arena. Okay, but there’s a college football venue, Sam Boyd Stadium and Nevada-Las Vegas’ home field, available right now. The stadium’s record crowd is 44,165. After all, major fights already have been staged at Thomas & Mack Center, where UNLV plays basketball.

AZ NOTES
The bad news is Phoenix junior-welterweight prospect Jose Benavidez Jr. was forced to cancel a scheduled fight on Feb. 3 because of a troublesome injury to his right wrist. The good news is that he is only 19 years old. He might have to deal with hands vulnerable to injury throughout his career. It’s not uncommon. Whether he needs to wear different gloves or have his hands taped differently, Benavidez has time to find a solution that could save a promising career.

According to TMZ.com, Manny Pacquiao could decide today or tomorrow whether he will fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 5th — this according to Manny’s trainer.

Freddie Roach just told TMZ Manny and promoter Bob Arum are in the Philippines, figuring out if they can put off several deals to fight other boxers … to clear the decks for a Mayweather fight in May.
Roach is scoffing at Mayweather’s tweet, in which he calls Pacquiao a “punk,” saying, “He should look in the mirror. He’s been ducking us for 2 years.”

As for what weight class Pacquiao will fight Mayweather … Roach said 147 lbs — that’s the upper limit of welterweight.

Of course, even if Pacquiao can rearrange his schedule, both sides have to agree on a financial deal. Roach says, “We’ll do it on even terms.”

According to TMZ.com, Floyd Mayweather Jr. just issued the challenge the world has been waiting for — demanding Manny Pacquiao fight him once and for all … May 5th in Vegas.

Floyd’s jail sentence was postponed to June so he could fight at the MGM Grand on May 5th — but so far, his opponent hasn’t been determined.

Fight fans have been clamoring for Mayweather-Pacquiao for years — and now Floyd himself is calling out Manny with the message, “Manny Pacquiao I’m calling you out let’s fight May 5th and give the world what they want to see.”

Floyd sounded off in the tough and hardcore forums of Twitter and Facebook — and punctuated his challenge with, “Step up Punk.”

Manny is in the Philippines … and has yet to respond to the challenge.

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, WBO Welterweight champion and his team are looking in another direction rather than tp face Floyd Mayweather in a bout that the whole world has been clamoring for the better part of three years.

Leonard Ellerbe, one of Mayweather’s advisors, and Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer both told ESPN.com Monday that they were notified that Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank was not interested in coming to the table.

“We have been informed that Bob Arum is not interested in pursuing a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao at this time,” Schaefer said.

“I am sick and tired of Bob Arum twisting the truth. It’s another case of ‘yesterday I was lying, today I’m telling the truth,’ ” Schaefer said, invoking Arum’s most famous quote. “The truth of the matter is that we received this afternoon an email from retired federal judge Daniel Weinstein, who has informed us that Top Rank is pursuing a rematch with Marquez and, therefore, is not interested in immediate talks for a possible Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. This is obviously as clear as it can be that they have no intentions of making a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. Therefore, Floyd Mayweather will have no other choice than to move on and identify and lock in another opponent for his ring return on May 5.”

“Judge Weinstein is respected by both parties and mediated issues between Top Rank and Golden Boy before, so the plan was to see if he could help facilitate such a fight. Floyd’s team really wanted to get this fight done,” Schaefer said. “If you just sit down with Arum, he can at any time have one of his fits, one of his ‘f— you’ attacks, and the likelihood that he would have a ‘f— you’ attack in front of a retired judge seemed less likely than if Arum and me would be alone in a room.”

“In my opinion, you have three cowards — Bob Arum, (Pacquiao trainer) Freddie Roach and Manny Pacquiao,” Ellerbe told ESPN.com. “Now we all know the truth once and for all why this fight hasn’t been made. It should be clear to everyone that they don’t care what the fans want, especially when Floyd is ready, willing and able to fight Manny Pacquiao now. Floyd said if this isn’t clear, he doesn’t know what is.

“All along we know why the fight isn’t being made. This is the perfect opportunity. Both guys just fought. This is the fight the fans want to see, and it’s a disgrace that they are not willing to give the fans what they want. In my opinion, there are three reasons why Arum doesn’t want the fight. He knows there is no way that Manny Pacquiao can win, it kills his cash cow, and he wants to do in-house fights where he controls both sides. I said all along why this fight hasn’t been made to this point. Manny Pacquiao knows, Bob Arum knows and Freddie Roach knows.”

Ellerbe said he and Schaefer would begin exploring potential May 5 opponents for Mayweather.

“We have a number of options, and we will evaluate that and give the fans the biggest fight we can give them,” he said. “But before we can get started (on a Pacquiao fight), Top Rank doesn’t even want to listen. They’re not even interested in Floyd Mayweather. They want no part of Floyd Mayweather. They have no interest in the little fella fighting Floyd. Manny Pacquiao needs to stand up, in my opinion, and tell his promoter that he wants to fight Floyd Mayweather next and stop hiding behind his promoter.”

Dan Rafael of espn.com is reporting that Floyd Mayweather will fight May 5th and would like to the biggest fight possible and his adviser indicated a fight with Manny Pacquiao could loom for that date.

Mayweather’s opponent has not been determined but Mayweather’s adviser Leonard Ellerbe said, “We’re looking to make the biggest fight possible and everyone knows what that fight is, the little fella.”

“Floyd made it very clear that he wants to give the fans the biggest fights that are out there. He wants to stay active,” Ellerbe said. “We’re going to do everything in our power to make the biggest fight out there for the fans and we all know what the fight is.”

“We had a discussion, Floyd, me and Al,” Ellerbe said. “Floyd made it very clear to us what he wanted to do. He told us he is looking to make the biggest fight that is out there and to make it in May.”

“I’m very excited that the sport’s biggest pay-per-view star is going to be back on May 5,” Schaefer told ESPN.com. “We have informed the pay-per-view industry and I have the arena on hold. I’m excited to continue my relationship with Floyd and his team. It’s always fun to work with Floyd.”

“We have to plan any time you’re the biggest star in the sport,” Ellerbe said. “You have to plan in advance because his fights are events. In order to maximize the exposure you want to plan as far in advance as you can to make your event as big as possible. May 5, that is the date Floyd is fighting on. We have secured May 5 at the MGM. Floyd is excited to make his return.”

It’s hard to know what Manny Pacquiao thinks about all the mixed signals coming from Floyd Mayweather Jr. these days.

First, Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum tells the Filipino media that Mayweather wanted $100 million in undisclosed talks for the biggest fight nobody has yet to see.

Then, Mayweather brags on twitter by displaying a winning ticket for $37,272.75 on a bet that the Atlanta Hawks wouldn’t outscore the Chicago Bulls by six or more points in the second half.

If accurate, Arum is 100 million times right in interpreting Mayweather’s demand as just another way of saying — no, hell no — he won’t fight.

But the winning ticket from Las Vegas’ M Resort looks like another good bet that Mayweather is going to need more than a nickname to pay his bills. He calls himself Money, but he won’t have much of it if gambling is a habit and criminal lawyers are a necessity.

Let’s just say that it’s safe to assume Mayweather isn’t tweeting anything that ever looks like a losing ticket. For anybody who has invested part of a paycheck at a Vegas’ book, it is also a good bet that the losers outnumber the winners.

Does Pacquiao even care? If he doesn’t, then there are 100 million more reasons to believe the long-awaited showdown will happen only in a video game. Pacquiao already is well into his second career as a politician. As the public and media grow weary of the continuing speculation, Pacquiao appears to already have moved on and beyond.

Sometimes, however, money – or the urgent need for some – creates big fights. There continues to be talk that Shane Mosley, who faces Pacquiao on May 7 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand, has to fight to pay for his divorce. That price is as cynical as it is steep. It is also dangerous. But it has always been there.

Mayweather, who faces eight criminal charges for an alleged incident involving a former girlfriend, has countless ways of saying he won’t do this and he might do that. It’d be no surprise if he soon denies that Arum’s latest story about negotiations that heretofore had gone unreported. It would be a lot harder for him to deny that he wants $100 million.

But Mayweather’s words don’t really matter. It’s what he shows us. The latest offering is several zeroes short of what his nickname claims and one reason to think that Pacquiao-Mayweather will happen.

NOTES, QUOTES
· The best hope for a resurrected heavyweight division is an NFL work stoppage that lasts, say, a couple of years. Baltimore Ravens safety Tommy Zbikowski, who fights Saturday night in Atlantic City on the Yuriorkis Gamboa-Jorge Solis undercard, is as skilled and athletic a prospect as there is on the side of the world that does not include a Klitschko. Zbikowski is evidence that America’s best heavyweights are in the NFL. “Yeah, it might be true,’’ said Zbikowski, who says Ravens defensive lineman Haloti Ngata could be a great one. “The Klitschkos are the best right now and they’ve been the best for a long time. Just because they’re in Europe doesn’t mean there are not great heavyweights. I think a lot of the American heavyweights right now are playing football. Boxing is honestly one of the most athletic things you can do. To be a good boxer, you have to be very athletic. Right now, you’re seeing the top athletes go to college to get an education. I think if you have boxing back at the collegiate level, you might have some more American heavyweights.”

· And another shot in the Golden Boy-Top Rank feud could be fired next week. Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer said Wednesday that he is planning to meet with Juan Manuel Marquez. There is rampant speculation that Marquez will jump from Golden Boy to Top Rank. That might be the only way he gets a second rematch with Pacquiao. “We don’t know what Márquez’s plan or plans are,’’ Schaefer said during a conference call for an April 9 card topped by Erik Morales-Marcos Maidana and will include Robert Guerrero, Michael Katsidis and James Kirkland at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. “I am actually scheduled to meet with him next week in Mexico and see what he is planning on doing.’’