By Chris Williams: In what has to be seen as the kiss of death for the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Manny Pacquiao negotiations, Pacquiao is giving Mayweather a deadline of until the end of the money to agree to the fight or else Pacquiao will be moving on, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Pacquiao and his promoter have agreed to the terms of the negotiations. Whose terms is the questions – their terms or Mayweather’s terms? Ever since Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum announced that they’d agree to the terms there’s been silence. This obviously isn’t good because it suggests something isn’t right.
“My promoter and I, we’ve already agreed to the terms and conditions of whatever he wants,” Pacquiao said to the latimes.com. “We’re just waiting on the signed contract from him. That’s the hard part – if they will fight or not. We have to know soon, because if they will not fight, we can move on and choose another opponent. We have a deadline … this month.”
With Pacquiao announcing a deadline for the Mayweather fight negotiations, it kind of flies in the face of what Arum recently said that they would stick it out no matter how long it would take to get the negotiations done.
Pacquiao’s personal adviser Michael Koncz recently talked about a deadline being the end of January. It now looks like he was serious when he said that.
It’s hard to know what Mayweather will think about hearing Pacquiao giving a deadline for the fight. He might be totally turned off by a move like this because it comes across like Pacquiao is the A-side in the negotiations and trying to call the shots. If you’re trying to negotiate a fight there’s nothing worse you can do than create a deadline.
This might do more harm than help for the negotiations, and I can see this playing out just like their first negotiations in 2009 when Arum and Pacquiao pulled out of the negotiations after they reached a stalemate over the drug testing Mayweather wanted. Pacquiao then turned around and fought Joshua Clottey in a fight that brought in poor pay-per-view numbers compared to Pacquiao’s recent fights before that.
The negotiations between Pacquiao and Mayweather are reportedly stuck on the HBO and Showtime deal, according to a source that revealed that to the Los Angeles Times.
If Pacquiao doesn’t face Mayweather, then he’ll have a number of options for his next fight, one of which is Jessie Vargas, one of Arum’s Top Rank fighters. Guys like Amir Khan are interested in facing Pacquiao, but he’s not one of Arum’s Top Rank fighters, so a fight against him would seem unlikely.
You would have to think that Vargas is the most likely option for Pacquiao or perhaps the winner of the Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado fight. Both of those guys are with Top Rank as well. Arum could also trot out Tim Bradley again for a third fight. Juan Manuel Marquez is still dealing with an injured knee, so he’s not an option.
As for Mayweather, he’ll likely face Miguel Cotto next if Pacquiao pulls out of the negotiations. Mayweather-Cotto is a fight that would likely bring in 1.5 to 1.8 million pay-per-view buys and it would be a huge success on Showtime pay-per-view. Mayweather arguably has the much better options than Pacquiao in terms of his next fight. Cotto is a big name.
Vargas isn’t and neither is Khan. I think Pacquiao would be better off sticking it out with the negotiations and agreeing to whatever Mayweather is asking for to get the contract signed.
Pacquiao has reportedly agreed to a 60-40 purse split for the Mayweather fight. Whether or not this is an acceptable number to Mayweather is unknown. If not, then that may be one of the reasons why the contract hasn’t been signed by Mayweather.
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