If Mayweather fights Cotto instead of Pacquiao is it Arum’s fault?

By Boxing News - 12/28/2014 - Comments

floyd63By Chris Williams: Floyd Mayweather Jr recently made it clear to the entire boxing world that he wants to fight Manny Pacquiao next on the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo on May 2nd. It was thought at the time that Pacquiao would gladly take the fight with Mayweather, especially given that he’s been asking for this fight for the past five years.

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum almost immediately started talking about the May 2nd date being a Mexican holiday and that Mayweather shouldn’t be looking to take that date. Instead of agreeing to match Pacquiao against Mayweather on May 2nd, Arum took the stance of having the fight take place in April or June.

This move could be seen as Arum playing the part of the A-side promoter without realizing that his fighter Pacquiao is clearly the B-side without the ability to call the shots in terms of money, dates or venues. By saying that the May 2nd date was a Mexican holiday for Mexican fighters, Arum was basically taking a huge risk where his fighter Pacquiao would end up empty-handed once again.

Instead of fighting Mayweather in early 2015 and making a huge boatload of cash, Pacquiao will likely be facing one of Arum’s Top Rank stable fighters like Jessie Vargas. This fight of course would likely need to be staged in Macau, China because if it takes place in the United States it’s not a sellable fight.

It would be a pity if Arum loses out on the Mayweather fight for Pacquiao because of his reluctance to have the fight take place on May 2nd. There’s some fans who feel that Arum doesn’t want to match Pacquiao against Mayweather on May 2nd because Arum is holding that date for his fighter Miguel Cotto to face Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. That’s a move that doesn’t make sense because it’s a fight that will make far less money than a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight. Why wouldn’t Arum take the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight on May 2nd if it could be the only time it’s offered to Pacquiao?

In the latest boxing news, Mayweather might end up facing Cotto in early 2015. That means that Arum won’t get the Cotto-Canelo fight, and that Pacquiao will be left without Mayweather yet again. If this happens is it the fault of Arum’s or is this just a situation where Mayweather is making a smart business move. You’d have to think that Mayweather wouldn’t be thinking about a fight against Cotto if he was given the green light by Arum to fight Pacquiao on May 2nd.



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