By Chris Williams: With the Floyd Mayweather Jr (47-0, 26 KOs) – Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) fight now official after Mayweather having announced the mega-fight earlier on Friday, Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is officially off the leash and starting to voice what he feels Pacquiao is going to do to Mayweather when they face each other in less than three months from now on May 2nd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Up until now, Arum has been playing it pretty nice in not saying much about Mayweather, perhaps due to him not wanting to mess up the contract negotiations. But now that the fight is a done deal, Arum is speaking his mind and making himself heard loud and clear.
“My guy is really going to give Mayweather a lesson in the ring, either stops him or by decision, but win he will,” Arum said via Lance Pugmire of the LA Times.
This isn’t surprising that Arum is predicting that Pacquiao will school Mayweather, because this is more or less the same things that Arum has been saying for ages now.
Arum thinks that the combination of Pacquiao’s hand speed and southpaw stance will give Mayweather serious problems when the two of them get inside the ring. Despite six years going by since the last time the two fighters were involved in serious negotiations, Arum still feels the same way about the fight.
You have to wonder how Arum will deal with it if Mayweather clowns Pacquiao and makes him look really bad like he did Marcos Maidana in his last fight, and Saul Canelo” Alvarez before that. A one-sided loss for Pacquiao might be a major blow to Pacquiao’s status as a pay-per-view attraction.
Right now, Pacquiao is still a highly popular fighter due to him having suffered just one loss since 2012, but if he gets beaten by Mayweather, it could effectively rain on the Filipino fighters’ parade and cause a big drop off in his pay-per-view numbers.
“The fans all wanted and deserved this fight and I’m happy we’re giving the fans what they want,” Pacquiao said. “I’m very happy this five-year saga has come to an end.”
It is a great fight for Pacquiao, and it’s coming at a right time for him. I’m sure Pacquiao could use the money that he’ll be getting for this fight for one thing or another. He could get as much as $100 million.
Just how much there will be left for Pacquiao after he gives Arum, Michael Koncz, Freddie Roach and his training team their cut is unknown. With the fight being staged in the United States, there will be some of the loot lost due to the federal taxes.
If they had staged the fight in Macau, China, Pacquiao could have kept more of his money due to the lower tax rates over there, but Mayweather likely would have never agreed to fight in a place like that so it wasn’t a possibility.
“Boxing fans and sports fans around the world will witness greatness on May 2. I am the best ever, TBE,” Mayweather said. “Giving the fans what they want to see is always my main focus. This will be the biggest event in the history of the sport. I am glad my decision to meet with Manny and discuss making this fight happen helped get the deal done.”
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