by Christian Ramos: It appears that there’s a new, maybe not so surprising twist to the Mayweather – Pacquiao saga. Leonard Ellerbe, Advisor and deeply close friend to arguably the P4P King Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather Jr. broke his silence, revealing interesting details regarding the failed negotiations for the potential mega-fight between “Money” Mayweather and PacMan.
In an article by Josh Slagter at the Grand Rapids Press at Mlive.com, Ellerbe had this to say: “Here are the facts. Al Haymon, Richard Schaefer, and myself speak to each other on a regular basis and the truth is no negotiations have ever taken place nor was there ever a deal agreed upon by team Mayweather of Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao on November 13. Either Ross Greenburg or Bob Arum is not telling the truth, but history tells us who is lying.”
This is certainly a very interested chapter to the best-selling novel that is Mayweather-Pacquiao. At 3 a.m. Eastern Time (midnight pacific), Bob Arum stated he would move on to negotiations with Margarito and Cotto being that Floyd never responded to the July 16 deadline. He has also confirmed that the Mayweather fight is still his main interest, and the offer is still available as long as Manny is not under contract against any other fighter. The July 16 deadline was indeed just the expiration on the exclusivity period.
On Sunday, July 18, self-proclaimed “Cash Cow” of the sport broke his silence and spoke the Associated Press. “I’m not interested in rushing to do anything. I’m not really thinking about boxing right now. I’m must relaxing. I fought about 60 days ago, so I’m just enjoying myself, enjoying life, enjoying my family and enjoying my vacation. Like I said, I’m just supporting my family and relaxing. That’s what I’m doing right now.”
What’s even more interesting about this situation is that for weeks Bob Arum has been claiming that everything was ok and both sides agreed to the terms on the contract, but Arum stated that he has only spoken to Ross Greenburg who has served as a mediator with both sides. There obviously seems to be a problem somewhere between the terms Manny’s agreed to and the ones Team Mayweather has seen. No one outside of Top Rank has ever seen the contract. It did seem pretty suspicious for Mayweather to be fine with a 50-50 deal or even for Pacquiao to accept random drug testing up until the fight.
If the case is that Ross Greenburg has indeed been convinced by the terms, there’s also a big problem with that. Ross Greenburg is not Team Mayweather. Was Arum pulling a publicity stunt? Should have Bob Arum been more direct in contacting Team Mayweather before accepting a yes or no from someone outside of the team? Should have Team Mayweather been more involved with the negotiation attempt or at least responding the public statements from Top Rank? Who knows? Looking at the bright side of things, at least we’re finally hearing from some important figures, the people that have to agree.
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