If Manny Pacquiao fans were calling Floyd Mayweather Jr. “Scareweather” before, just imagine what they’ll call him now.
Pacquiao told reporters that he will now look to fight another opponent in November after a July 16 deadline to reach a deal for a fight against Mayweather passed with no response from the superstar boxer.
Top Rank boxing promoter Bob Arum recently told reporters that Mayweather had until late Friday night to officially agree to a fight with Pacquiao, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 13. According to Arum, the camps of both fighters had been in negotiations for what many consider “the fight of the century” for months. Apparently, each side agreed to extensive drug testing and a 50/50 split of earnings, and all that was left to do was sign the dotted line. But the deadline came and passed without even a phone call from Mayweather.
“Floyd, for whatever reason—and I’m sure he has some valid reason—didn’t want to commit,” Arum told the Associated Press.
Pacquiao, whom most boxing experts consider the best fighter in the world, will now attempt to reach a deal with either Antonio Margarito or Miguel Cotto. Arum told reporters last week that contracts with both fighters were already prepared just in case Mayweather said no, so it shouldn’t take long for an agreement to be reached. But Arum did suggest that it’s still not too late for Mayweather to make the fight happen—he just has to hurry before Pacquiao signs any other deal.
“ is dead when we conclude a deal for Manny’s fight in November,” Arum told the AP. “Then we’re contractually bound to that fight, and we would look to do a deal with Floyd for next year. If Floyd emerged and said he wanted to do the fight , then there would be nothing opposed to doing the fight.”
Arum said the July deadline was set to allow sufficient time to properly promote the fight, which could generate about $40 million for each fighter. But according to the AP, Arum said Mayweather may be reluctant to fight due to the legal troubles of his uncle and head trainer, Roger Mayweather. Roger is scheduled to attend court in August on assault charges related to an alleged altercation with a female boxer last year.
“It would be a shame if it didn’t happen, but I don’t think should be too harsh on Floyd in this situation,” Arum told reporters. “I would have liked him to communicate, but I really believe that this issue with the uncle has an effect. Putting myself in their shoes, I would feel a lot of reluctance going into this big fight without my trainer, and we’re not going to know what the outcome of this criminal situation is for quite some time.”
Arum is expected to announce Pacquiao’s next opponent as soon as the contract work is officially done. But he said that until that is done, there’s still a shot the real fight that everyone wants to see can still be done.
“The fight that we want to do is Mayweather,” Arum told the AP. “We haven’t said anything different, we haven’t acted differently, but Manny has to fight in November. We’re going to proceed with all deliberate speed, but if in the interim Floyd decides that, despite the Roger situation, that he wants to fight Manny, absolutely, that’s the fight we want.”
