Arum says Pacquiao-Mayweather fight could happen if nobody talks about it

By Boxing News - 10/18/2014 - Comments

floyd11233By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum thinks there’s a chance that the mega-fight between WBA/WBC welterweight champion and his fighter WBO 147 pound champion Manny Pacquiao could take place if boxing fans would stop talking about the fight. For some reason Arum thinks that all the talk about the fight is keeping Mayweather from wanting to make the fight.

Unfortunately, if boxing fans aren’t talking about a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight then that means they have no interest in seeing the match-up, and that’s not going to help Arum either.

“If it happens, it happens,” Arum said to esnewsreporting about a potential Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight in the future. “Maybe we’re better off if nobody talks about it because maybe it will happen. No, I haven’t given up [on the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight]. It’s a fight where everyplace I go people say to me ‘When is Manny going to fight Floyd?’ That’s the fight people want to see. So why should I give up on it?”

Arum may need to permanently shelf any ideas of a fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather if Pacquiao loses his next fight to Chris Algieri next month on November 22. That’s a 50-50 fight in the minds of many boxing fans, and if Pacquiaoi gets beaten in this bout, then that will probably close the door on any talk of a Pacquiao vs. Mayweather fight from happen.

It’s not as if Mayweather hasn’t given Arum and Pacquiao plenty of opportunities for the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight to happen. Mayweather attempted to get a fight against Pacquiao in 2010, but he couldn’t get agreement on Pacquiao and Arum’s part for the blood testing for the fight to happen.

Arum opted to have Pacquiao fight Joshua Clottey instead of sticking it out with the negotiations. That was the missed opportunity right there. Mayweather offered Pacquiao the fight in 2012, but Pacquiao chose instead to fight Juan Manuel Marquez for a fourth time for far less money.

Mayweather also said he’d fight Pacquiao if he left Arum. Instead, Pacquiao signed a 2-year extension. There’s been chances for the fight to happen, but it’s just not taken place.



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