Arum thinks Pacquiao vs. Mayweather fight can happen in 2016

By Boxing News - 05/20/2014 - Comments

floyd56342By Dan Ambrose: Manny Pacquiao’s decision to re-up with Top Rank for another 2 years until the end up 2016 would seem like the end of any chances of a mega fight between him and Floyd Mayweather Jr. (46-0, 26 KO’s), but Bob Arum of Top Rank thinks a fight between the two fighters can still happen. Arum says that a fight can take place in 2 years in 2016 once Mayweather’s remaining fights on his 6-fight contract with Showtime have expired or possibly if Showtime and HBO agree to let the fight take place between them.

“HBO is willing to do it,” Arum said. “And you never know, anything can happen in 2016.”

The problem with a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao taking place in 2016 is that Mayweather will be 39-years-old and Pacquiao 37. That’s pretty old, and neither of them will still be the same fighters they are now. Mayweather already said he’ll be retiring at the end of 2015. And here Arum is talking about a fight that can happen between them in 2016. The reality is that a fight between them likely wouldn’t be able to take place until early 2017 after Pacquiao’s contract expires with Top Rank. Mayweather will be 40-years-old by that time, and Pacquiao closing in on 38. That’s just no realistic, and you have to wonder why Arum is even mentioning something like that. Was he being serious?

It seems like Arum might be talking about Mayweather fight right now because there’s so much negative criticism about Pacquiao signing a 2-year contract extension with his company Top Rank. Some boxing fans were hoping that Pacquiao would break free of Top Rank so that he could fight Mayweather once his contract expired. But instead of leaving the company to get a fight that would have likely paid Pacquiao over $50 million, he instead re-upped with Arum for what will likely be the remaining 2 years of his career.

Without the potential of a Mayweather fight from happening, Pacquiao’s pay-per-view numbers might continue to drop from this point forward. By Pacquiao, his trainer Freddie Roach and Arum name dropping Mayweather’s name with the media, it had boxing fans hopeful for a fight between the two fighters. This in turn likely resulted in higher PPV sales for Pacquiao. But with Pacquiao re-signing for such a long time, it removes any hope that fans have of him and Mayweather ever fighting.

Pacquiao, Arum and Roach can name drop Mayweather’s name until they’re blue in the face now, but fans won’t believe that fight will happen. 2 years isn’t a long time for a young fighter, but for fighters that are 35 and 37 like Pacquiao and Mayweather are now, it’s a lifetime. Arum should have re-signed Pacquiao for just 1 year instead of two, because he at least could have gotten fans interested in Pacquiao’s fights by mentioning Mayweather a lot. Fans would think there’s only 1 year to wait, and they’d happily purchase Pacquiao’s fights on PPV to see how well he’s doing before he faces Mayweather for a big money fight.



Comments are closed.