By Armando Paz: Before the Mayweather-Pacquiao negotiations broke off last winter the public perception was that the entire drug testing controversy was just a promotional ploy and there was simply too much money involved for it to not go on. When both teams agreed to see if a mediator could iron out the differences than reality set in that the deal won’t get finalized. The final sticking point was the cutoff point for Olympic style drug testing as Pacquiao wanted 24 days and Mayweather 14 days. The difference is now both parties seem to be willing to meet halfway. Gee perhaps they could have thought about that last time when they were in the mediation process? Or was it their plan to postpone the fight later for this year to generate more interest?

The reality is until this deal is signed, sealed, and delivered than we can’t assume that the proposed October or November date is done. Some mega fights often take years to be made but few share the notorious negotiations drama that the Mayweather-Pacquiao had last winter. Often the culprit for canceling a fight is injury. This was the case when the initial date of a Hagler-Hearns fight would be canceled due to Hearns having an injured figure. At the time, Hagler felt outraged that the fight was canceled and claimed “most people will cut a finger off for that multi million dollar payday.”

Hagler promised to “break every bone of Hearns body” if they would ever meet in the future and he backed the talk when he disposed of Hearns in three rounds after withstanding the freakish power of Hearns.

The sports last major super bouts were Whitaker-Chavez, Trinidad-De La Hoya, and Tyson-Holyfield and those took place some time to finally happen. After Chavez beat Camacho the expectation of a possible fight with Whitaker was seen as very imminent, but fans needed to wait a year before it took place. When De La Hoya won the WBC Welterweight title in 1997 the hope was an immediate unification bout with IBF champion Felix Trinidad who also was an undefeated fighter at the time. But fans were made to wait for over two years before that fight took place in 1999. The Tyson-Holyfied fight was actually on paper to happen before Tyson was convicted of rape charges in 1991. It was also likely to happen in 1990 if Tyson had beaten Buster Douglas, but his loss the fight and Holyfield ended up beating Douglas and capturing the heavyweight crown. So fans needed to wait an additional five years for the fight to finally happen in 1996.

Make no mistake; fans will not wait for years patiently for this fight to happen. Mayweather-Pacquiao needs to happen this fall or it likely will never happen. The interest of the fight is in fever pitch and the demand for the fight will hit an immediate free fall if it’s not this year. The options for each fighter simply points to each other.

The death of Edwin Valero a Top Rank Fighter has taken the option of Valero vs. Pacquaio out of the table. The Bob Arum method of fighting Top Rank boxers with Top Rank boxers in order to keep the revenues within his company is now out of play.

The notion of middleweight champion Sergio Martinez fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. is also unlikely since Martinez will likely honor his rematch clause with Kelly Pavlik. Moreover, Mayweather had trouble making weight at a junior middleweight fight with De La Hoya and likely will need a catch weight for a middleweight fight.

The Bradley-Maidana fight has been canceled due to Maidana’s back injury. As a result, Maidana is out of the table for Pacquaio. Bradley will likely fight Devon Alexander next and not Mayweather. Although a rising star, Timothy Bradley can’t generate the interest that Mayweather would want. Bradley has never been featured as the big star of a PPV event.

The recent fight between Mayweather-Mosley did not bring in the Pay-Per-View numbers that Golden Boy Promotions had promised. We were told over 2 million purchases but the numbers reported so far project 1.3 million. The Pacquiao-Clottey numbers were 700,000 projected purchases. It won’t be presumptuous to say there was some fan backlash for the failure of the mega fight not occurring. There always be some losses due to piracy and illegal streaming, but the numbers were far less than people predicted. This only adds fuel to the fire that boxing needs the super fight. If Floyd who calls himself “Money” can make $22 million without counting PPV revenue against Mosley, than how much can he make against Pacquiao?

Even if he sticks to a 50-50 split its likely he will make $40 million for a fight with Pacquiao. If the fight gets 3 million pay-per-view purchases there is a good chance that he can make well over 50 million. Mayweather has said “legacy don’t pay bills” but with Pacquiao he can do both pay bills and secure his legacy by beating the greatest opponent of his generation.

The moment is now for the biggest superfight since Hagler-Leonard took place in the spring of 1987. The boxing public will not accept Act 2 of a contentious Mayweather-Pacquiao negotiations Soap opera. If two fighters are not willing to both earn a potential $40 million payday and the undisputed Pound for Pound title than why should the public be so eager to support it? The moment for Mayweather vs. Pacquiao is now or never.