By Chris Williams: Floyd Mayweather Jr’s signing with Showtime/CBS pretty much finished what little chance there was in Mayweather someday fighting the Filipino star Manny Pacquiao in a mega fight between two aging stars of the sport.
Pacquiao fights for HBO, whereas Mayweather just signed a six-fight deal with Showtime/CBS that will reportedly pay him as much as $250 million if he can finish out the contract in the 30 months. If Mayweather finishes that fight series unbeaten, he’s going to be a very, very rich man.
Unfortunately, the chances of Mayweather and Pacquiao facing each other are now pretty bleak unless Pacquiao leaves HBO too like Mayweather, and comes to Showtime so the two can face off.
Given Pacquiao’s loyalty, I don’t see it happening. He’ll likely stay with HBO until the end of his career, and that’ll finish out any chances there ever was of a fight between him and Mayweather.
It’s hard to predict how much time Pacquiao has left in his career. The way he’s looked in his last two fights against Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez, I wouldn’t imagine he has too much time. He may not be the same fighter after his KO loss to Marquez last December.
That was a bad knockout, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he falls over from the first big shot he gets hit with when he fights next in September.
Marquez dropped Pacquiao hard in the 3rd round in that fight, and Pacquiao just looked old when that happened. It kind of reminded me of how an athlete looks when he suddenly starts losing. The fact that Pacquiao was knocked cold later in the fight seems to indicate that he’s a fading star that might not last too much longer.
I guess it really doesn’t matter that Pacquiao and Mayweather are now fighting for different networks because it would be virtually impossible for a fight to be made between them with Pacquiao having lost his last two fights. How do you make a fight between them with Pacquiao asking for a near even split of the purse with Mayweather?
Pacquiao would have to come in much lower to make the fight a reality, and I just don’t see it happening. Mayweather would want – and deserve – the bigger slice of the pie, and I don’t think Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum would agree to give Mayweather a big enough slice to make the fight happen.
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