Arum thinks Mayweather-Pacquiao will happen twice next year

By Raj Parmar - 08/29/2014 - Comments

mayweather3411111By Raj Parmar: Rumors of the likely richest prize fight in the history of the sport actually materializing next year keeps getting stronger by the day.

Floyd Mayweather (46-0, 26 KO’s) and Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KO’s) have been fighting for the pound for pound throne of the sport for virtually the last decade and both happen to be in the same weight class.

Fans have been salivating for a showdown between the two boxing powerhouses for years however for one reason or another the fight always seemed to fall apart whenever it seemingly got close to being made.

Top Rank chief and Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum is extremely optimistic that the fight will finally happen in early 2015. Not only that, but he feels the two will actually fight twice next year. This could be the case of Arum trying to indirectly promote Manny’s upcoming title defense against little known challenger Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KO’s) by tying Mayweather’s name to the promotion of the event, or Arum may be privy to some information that truly indicates the fight is finally a reality and not a fantasy.

“There is a sell-by date, where it becomes (after that) ‘Who cares?’ It has to happen by the first six months of next year,” Arum said to sfchronicle.com, “And if it happens, there should be a provision with a different percentage for the rematch. So that the winner is rewarded for winning the fight. I would love to see these guys fight twice next year.”

Arum indicated that both Showtime and HBO (who separately promote Mayweather and Pacquiao) have already met and discussed putting on the superfight early next year in order to not completely lose interest of fans who have waited far too long for these two to step in the ring with one another. HBO and Showtime, although intense rivals, have put aside differences on a past occasion in order to profit off a huge money showdown; which was when heavyweight stars Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson agreed to take each other on for the heavyweight crown. It seems according to Arum that the networks will once again opt to set aside any differences in order to capitalize in major way with a Mayweather-Pacquiao event.

“Both networks want this fight to happen,” Arum said. “All signs seem to point to the fight happening early next year. Now it’s up to the fight camps to resolve the deal.”

One of the major reasons for the fight not having occurred already was due to a dispute in random drug testing, which Floyd has been adamant on while Pacquiao was not totally on board with Floyd’s strict demands in the past. However Manny has been engaging in regular random drug testing procedures for his recent fights so that would no longer be an issue in setting up the clash. With the networks pushing (maybe even forcing?) the fight, it seems that the major hurdle left would be in establishing a split of the enormous money that will generated that will satisfy both the Mayweather and Pacquiao camps.



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