(Photo credit: Stephnie Trapp: Mayweather Promotions) By Chris Williams: If WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank really wants a fight against the highest paid person in sports WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr then they’re going to need to immediately agree on a couple of things right out the door.
Mayweather says that if a fight between him and Pacquiao is to place then it must be under the Mayweather Promotions banner. In other words, Top Rank won’t be the one in control of the fight as the main promoter.
The other thing Mayweather wants is for the fight to be televised on Showtime pay-per-view, not HBO where Pacquiao fights. Arum has all of his fighters on HBO. However, I’ve not heard that Pacquiao is under contract with them, so this could in theory mean that he could fight Mayweather on Showtime PPV like he wants.
If Arum still insists on Pacquiao fighting Mayweather on HBO or not at all, then we won’t be seeing a fight between them because Mayweather is the A-side and he can call the shots right now. Mayweather is still brining in huge PPV totals for Showtime and he’s still unbeaten the last time I checked.
“If the Pacquiao fight does happen it has to happen on Showtime pay-per-view only and Mayweather Promotions have to do the fight,” Mayweather said via the Dailymail.co.uk. “At the moment I want to go home, have a break, spend some time with my children and then see who’s next in May. Hopefully it’s Manny Pacquiao.”
If Arum and Pacquiao want the fight against Mayeather then they’re pretty much going to need to go along with whatever he’s asking. I don’t think this is a situation where Mayweather will change his mind about it like he seemingly did in choosing to try and make a fight against Pacquiao despite Arum being involved. Mayweather previously said he would never fight Pacquiao if Arum was in the picture. But if Mayweather Promotions is the one controlling the fight, then Arum really wouldn’t be in the picture.
I don’t know if Arum is going to agree to have Mayweather Promotions run the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, because his company Top Rank wouldn’t be involved and there be no upside.
It would be a good situation obviously for Pacquiao, because he would get the biggest payday of his career in that fight. But would Arum agree to let Mayweather Promotions take control of the fight that he’s been wanting for years? I don’t think so. And I don’t see Arum agreeing to have Showtime PPV televise the fight rather than HBO PPV.
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