A duel between the defence-minded Mayweather and the aggressive
Pacquiao, the biggest drawcards of their generation, has long been
savoured by boxing fans, if only to decide the mythical title of the
world's best pound-for-pound fighter.
Filipino Pacquiao lost much of his appeal after successive defeats to
American Timothy Bradley and Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012,
prompting talk of his possible retirement, though he has since bounced
back with two impressive wins.
"I think that fight will
eventually happen," Arum, Pacquiao's promoter, told Reuters on Thursday
in a telephone interview. "We are certainly open to the fight happening
and we are prepared to sit down with (the Mayweather team) at any time
and work out terms."
Five-division world champion Mayweather, who is known for his shrewd
business acumen, had been expected to meet Pacquiao in 2010 until
negotiations collapsed over the American's demand for random drug
testing.
Mayweather, who has
hinted at illegal methods by often questioning how Pacquiao could have
won world titles in an unprecedented eight weight classes, has since
said he would not fight the Filipino as long as Arum is his promoter.
Veteran Arum, however, has his own theory about that.
"Frankly, it's the same as it
always was," said the 82-year-old promoter, who has worked with giants
of the ring such as Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler and
Roberto Duran.
"The idea that
Mayweather says, 'Well, I'm not going to fight Pacquiao because Bob
Arum is involved,' is the latest is in a whole line of excuses.
"If you look at it from Mayweather's standpoint, he has this
unbelievable deal with Showtime (satellite television network), paying
him all this money ... so he would probably figure, 'I have three more
fights under the Showtime contract'."
STRONG FEELING
Assuming that Mayweather wins
those next three fights to improve his perfect record to 49-0 and
conclude his Showtime deal, Arum has a strong feeling that the
flamboyant American would then agree to a mega-fight with Pacquiao
(56-5-2).
"He (Mayweather)
would figure, 'Why don't I do those (three) fights for the easy money
and then in 2016, with my 50th fight, I could beat the (49-0) record of
(Rocky) Marciano by fighting Pacquiao'," said Arum.
"That would be a huge fight, and I believe it will happen."
Should that bout take place, it could well be the last fight of
Pacquiao's career as the Filipino agreed earlier this week to extend his
promotional agreement with Arum's Top Rank company until the end of
2016.
Between now and then,
Pacquiao is likely to fight twice each year and he will next step into
the ring on Nov. 8, in all likelihood in Macau and probably against his
old foe, Mexican Marquez, a four-division world champion.
"Marquez has not, as of yet, committed to the fight so we will be
talking to him in the days ahead," said Arum. "I am going to be over in
Macau next week (for a fight) and I have invited Juan Manuel and his
wife to come. I believe they will."
Marquez, who knocked out Pacquiao the last time they met in December
2012, beat welterweight Mike Alvarado by unanimous decision in his most
recent fight, last week.
Should Marquez decline the opportunity to take on Pacquiao for a fifth
time, Arum said he would probably then target Ruslan Provodnikov of
Russia as the Filipino's opponent in November.
When Pacquiao's promotional agreement with Top Rank ends at the end of
2016, the Filipino southpaw will be 38 years old, the perfect time for
him to end his glittering boxing career.
"That's what we figured and that's why we made it to the end of 2016,"
said Arum. "Hopefully by that point he would have been elected to the
Philippine senate and that's very time consuming. That would be the
signal for him to hang up his gloves."
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