By Chris Williams: Bob Arum of Top Rank, the promoter for Manny Pacquiao, says that he’ll have his top money earner back in the ring on May 30th, possibly against Amir Khan if he doesn’t fight Floyd Mayweather Jr on May 2nd, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com.
Arum supposedly is on board with Mayweather’s adviser Al Haymon for the fight. Arum, however, still remains skeptical about the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight taking place despite him having an understanding with Haymon.
If Pacquiao doesn’t get a fight against Mayweather, then he’ll have to follow after him by fighting in late May in what would be the second big pay-per-view bout of the month. When you have two PPV bouts in one month, it strains the pocketbooks of the boxing fans. Therefore, it’s less likely that fans will want to open their wallets a second time after they’ve come up with big cash for the first PPV fight of the month.
We’re talking about boxing fans potentially seeing their cable bill increase to $140 in one month. That’s why it’s in Mayweather’s favor to get a lot more PPV buys than Pacquiao if he’s the first guy fighting in the month on May 2nd instead of May 30th like Pacquiao. If Pacquiao were smart, he’d tell Arum that he wants to fight in another month rather than the same month as Mayweather.
“Talked to Arum today in Denver. Manny-Floyd says they’re waiting on Floyd. Says he’s done with his side & networks overcame biggest issues,” Rafael said on his Twitter page. “Take it all with a grain of salt people. Arum still seemed resigned to it not happening. But said he had direct communication with Haymon and said even they are on same page. Arum said if no Floyd fight that Manny will fight on May 30 on HBO PPV. Said he would consider going to England for a Khan fight. #boxing.”
Khan vs. Pacquiao is not the greatest plan-B that Arum could find for Arum if the Mayweather fight fails to take place.
Arum should be looking to find someone like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Miguel Cotto, Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, Lucas Matthysse, Marcos Maidana or Gennady Golovkin for Pacquiao to fight instead of putting him in with Khan. Those would be bigger fights for Pacquiao and he could show that he can beat a top guy. Pacquiao vs. Cotto at 160 would be the better fight. Pacquiao likely wouldn’t get a catch-weight handicap for the Cotto fight, but at least he’d have a chance to win a 9th division world title.