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Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Arum has set aside November 6th and 13th for Mayweather-Pacquiao clash

By Dave Lahr: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has set aside November 6th and November 13th for a mega fight between WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. for a fight that will be held in either Las Vegas or at the Cowboy Stadium, in Texas.

Arum is hoping to be able to put together the mega fight in the next few months, if possible. However, he might be jumping way ahead of himself in setting dates without Mayweather’s involvement. Pacquiao recently agreed to allow for blood tests to be taken from him until 14 days before a fight against Mayweather.

Arum is now putting it on Mayweather if he doesn’t accept this date it means that it’s essentially his fault that the fight doesn’t take place. However, that’s not really negotiating by Pacquiao agreeing to what Mayweather wanted during their previous negotiations. That time is past. Pacquiao moved on to fight Joshua Clottey rather than give into the 14 day request by Mayweather. At the time, Pacquiao would only agree to 24 days, a lengthy cutoff period.

But things aren’t that simple now. You can hardly put the blame on Mayweather if he doesn’t see the 14 day cut off as good enough anymore. Mayweather defeated Shane Mosley on May 1st, and got really good pay-per-view numbers in that fight. In fact, Mayweather’s 1.4 million buys was double the number of buys that Pacquiao’s fight against Clottey received. Why then would Mayweather be willing to accept the same negations as last time when he’s riding high right now from his win over Mosley.

You can’t blame Mayweather if he’s changed his mind about what he had asked for earlier in terms of blood testing, just as you can’t blame Mayweather if he asks for a better split than the 50-50 deal last time out. In American, you’re paid better based on your accomplishment. That’s how things are. And Mayweather just accomplished something truly special by dominating Shane Mosley with ease and showing how great he is. Pacquiao, for his part, didn’t look so hot in beating Clottey.

Pacquiao threw over 1000 punches in that fight, but missed a massive amount of his shots and was hit with big shots from Clottey all night long. Pacquiao was really tagged by Clottey in that fight. I don’t care if Manny won, he was getting clobbered with some clean hooks and uppercuts from Clottey throughout the fight.

If you look at Pacquiao’s fight with Clottey and then compare it to Mayweather’s brilliant work of art against Mosley, there are really no comparisons. Mayweather was far superior. This is why the 14 day cut off, as well as the purse split, probably won’t be the same in the next round of negotiations. I think Arum would have been off speaking to Mayweather first before wasting his time booking dates or locations for the fight. That’s getting ahead of things.

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