July 27, 2010 | 6:42 am
Hours after the president of HBO Sports said he had negotiated with both sides in an effort to make a Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. mega-fight on Nov. 13, Mayweather's lead adviser again denied the claim.
"Floyd is his own boss, calling his own shots," Leonard Ellerbe told The Times on Monday night.
HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg said in a prepared statement earlier Monday that he indeed had discussed the fight with representatives of both Pacquiao and Mayweather in an effort to make a bout that would match the repeat fighter of the year from the Philippines with unbeaten Mayweather.
The mediation failed, and Pacquiao proceeded to a replacement fight against Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13 at a site to be determined. The bout will be for the vacant WBS super-welterweight title, possibly Pacquiao's record eighth weight-division world title.
Ellerbe has said someone, either Arum or Greenburg, is "lying" if they believe Mayweather has participated in negotiations to fight. That point was effectively repeated Monday by Richard Schaefer, the Golden Boy Promotions executive who had been called upon in the past to assist Mayweather in fight negotiations.
Ellerbe said neither Mayweather nor his representatives ever entered into anything beyond cursory conversation with Greenburg. Ellerbe said Mayweather was doing what he had been since defeating Shane Mosley on May 1: taking time off to enjoy his life, his family and participate in other personal functions, as he said in this independent video June 2.
"This whole thing is getting blown out of proportion," Ellerbe said. "Floyd made it clear what his intentions were, after the fight ... and again in an interview last week. He's on vacation.
"Obviously, the parties making these statements need to understand what the term 'negotiation' really means. Calling to ask Floyd what he's thinking about doing is not a negotiation. How ... can you have a negotiation when the principal has made it clear he's not interested in doing anything at this time."
That certainly doesn't sit well with the boxing public, which has clamored for Mayweather-Pacquiao, but it should be noted "Money" earned about $65 million in two fights, in the September 2009 bout against Juan Manuel Marquez and the Mosley bout.
Ellerbe said he wasn't worried about Arum's claims that it's "unpardonable" to "lie to the press," as he said Ellerbe had done in previously insisting there were no negotiations. There's no love lost between Mayweather and his former promoter.
"I pay absolutely no attention to what Arum says," Ellerbe said. "He's just bitter because Floyd left him to become his own boss and has gone on to make $125 million since."
So when will Mayweather fight again? Apparently, whenever he wakes up one day and decides to. "When the time is right, it'll be right," Ellerbe said. "It'll be very simple."
That'll be something to see, after one prior collapsed negotiation in January and now this month's failed whatever-you-want-to-call-it.
-- Lance Pugmire
Back in Action: Mayweather Ignores Pacquiao’s Deadline
by Rick Brown
Hello Sports Fans! I know I’ve been out of pocket for the last four weeks but I got to enjoy a little R&R (partly because the Mrs. hid my laptop and only gave me my Blackberry to use the phone).
So, what’s been going on in the boxing and MMA worlds? What I miss?
Well, I know Floyd Mayweather ignored a deadline to make a deal with Manny Pacquiao.
I have to give Bob Arum (Pacquiao’s promoter) credit. Instead of calling out Mayweather, he just moved on. Pacquiao will now fight Antonio Margarito in November.
Although people are disappointed, we must remember this: Mayweather never said he would fight again this year after defeating Shane Mosley in May. In fact, all he said was he was going to take a long vacation. This deadline was all Pacquiao’s. He’s the one who wanted to fight again this year after defeating Joshua Clottey in March.
The two will likely fight in 2011. I’m predicting in May. The money is too great to ignore
Hello Sports Fans! I know I’ve been out of pocket for the last four weeks but I got to enjoy a little R&R (partly because the Mrs. hid my laptop and only gave me my Blackberry to use the phone).
So, what’s been going on in the boxing and MMA worlds? What I miss?
Well, I know Floyd Mayweather ignored a deadline to make a deal with Manny Pacquiao.
I have to give Bob Arum (Pacquiao’s promoter) credit. Instead of calling out Mayweather, he just moved on. Pacquiao will now fight Antonio Margarito in November.
Although people are disappointed, we must remember this: Mayweather never said he would fight again this year after defeating Shane Mosley in May. In fact, all he said was he was going to take a long vacation. This deadline was all Pacquiao’s. He’s the one who wanted to fight again this year after defeating Joshua Clottey in March.
The two will likely fight in 2011. I’m predicting in May. The money is too great to ignore
If Pacquiao vs. Mayweather Never Gets Made, Manny Deserves Blame Too
Published: Jul 26 2010 by: Brandon Taylor
Pacquiao Never Meeting Mayweather Leaves a Hole in His Resume
It has become apparent that Manny Pacquiao will not fight Floyd Mayweather this year, and perhaps won’t ever. Mayweather could be idle for the rest of the year, while Pacquiao will fight in November. He’s going up to 154 lbs to attempt to win a historic 8th world title in 8 weight classes. As great as that sounds, he’s not fighting Sergio Martinez, who is the Middleweight champion, and also shares the distinction of being perhaps the best Junior Middleweight in the world… nor is he fighting Paul Williams.
Instead, Pacquiao will fight either Miguel Cotto for the WBA title in a rematch of their catchweight welterweight bout, or Antonio Margartio for the WBC Title that Martinez vacated. I don’t think the fans really want to see either of those fights, and it’s time that Pacquiao and his camp share the blame for the clash against Mayweather crumbling apart.
Pacquiao busted Cotto up pretty bad in their first fight and I don’t think a few pounds will make that much of a difference. Margarito really doesn’t deserve a title shot, much less a fight against Pacquiao. By now everyone knows what happened in the dressing room before the Mosley fight. Margarito’s reward for being suspended for cheating and then coming back and looking average against an average fighter in his comeback fight is a chance to fight the best in the sport and win a world title? That’s a joke. Even though I believe Mayweather is ducking Pacquiao, Pacquiao is also going to be tarnished a little if the fight never happens.
The whole drug testing bit is bogus, but Pacquiao could have went through with it. I don’t think Pacquiao is using anything, but him not agreeing to the blood testing leaves doubt in some people’s heads. It probably was an issue of principles, Pacquiao didn’t want to give Mayweather the control. I understand that. However, Manny’s career resume will have a hole in it if the fight never gets made. A lot of people don’t want excuses. They just want to see the fight.
Getting back to reality, what happens next if Pacquiao defeats Cotto or Margarito, and negotiations fall through next year for a Mayweather fight once again? Pacquiao could retire, but I hope not. There could be some big time fights that would challenge the Filipino star before he hangs up the gloves. That’s the one thing we all can agree on. We want to see Pacquiao challenged.
By next spring, Paul Williams, Sergio Martinez, Tim Bradley, and Devon Alexander could all be in position for a fight with Pacquiao. Lurking in the background is always Juan Manuel Marquez depending on how his fight with Juan Diaz goes and if he takes a fight at 140. I would really like to see a third Marquez fight, even though the odds are slim. Just so maybe we could have a definite conclusion to the rivalry.
The point is that the best way for Pacquiao to continue his Hall of Fame career is to continue fighting fighters who represent challenges. Morales at 130, Hatton at 140, Oscar at 147, those were all fights were people weren’t sure Pacquiao could do, but he passed each one of those tests. There are bigger challenges for him right now than Cotto or Margarito
Pacquiao Never Meeting Mayweather Leaves a Hole in His Resume
It has become apparent that Manny Pacquiao will not fight Floyd Mayweather this year, and perhaps won’t ever. Mayweather could be idle for the rest of the year, while Pacquiao will fight in November. He’s going up to 154 lbs to attempt to win a historic 8th world title in 8 weight classes. As great as that sounds, he’s not fighting Sergio Martinez, who is the Middleweight champion, and also shares the distinction of being perhaps the best Junior Middleweight in the world… nor is he fighting Paul Williams.
Instead, Pacquiao will fight either Miguel Cotto for the WBA title in a rematch of their catchweight welterweight bout, or Antonio Margartio for the WBC Title that Martinez vacated. I don’t think the fans really want to see either of those fights, and it’s time that Pacquiao and his camp share the blame for the clash against Mayweather crumbling apart.
Pacquiao busted Cotto up pretty bad in their first fight and I don’t think a few pounds will make that much of a difference. Margarito really doesn’t deserve a title shot, much less a fight against Pacquiao. By now everyone knows what happened in the dressing room before the Mosley fight. Margarito’s reward for being suspended for cheating and then coming back and looking average against an average fighter in his comeback fight is a chance to fight the best in the sport and win a world title? That’s a joke. Even though I believe Mayweather is ducking Pacquiao, Pacquiao is also going to be tarnished a little if the fight never happens.
The whole drug testing bit is bogus, but Pacquiao could have went through with it. I don’t think Pacquiao is using anything, but him not agreeing to the blood testing leaves doubt in some people’s heads. It probably was an issue of principles, Pacquiao didn’t want to give Mayweather the control. I understand that. However, Manny’s career resume will have a hole in it if the fight never gets made. A lot of people don’t want excuses. They just want to see the fight.
Getting back to reality, what happens next if Pacquiao defeats Cotto or Margarito, and negotiations fall through next year for a Mayweather fight once again? Pacquiao could retire, but I hope not. There could be some big time fights that would challenge the Filipino star before he hangs up the gloves. That’s the one thing we all can agree on. We want to see Pacquiao challenged.
By next spring, Paul Williams, Sergio Martinez, Tim Bradley, and Devon Alexander could all be in position for a fight with Pacquiao. Lurking in the background is always Juan Manuel Marquez depending on how his fight with Juan Diaz goes and if he takes a fight at 140. I would really like to see a third Marquez fight, even though the odds are slim. Just so maybe we could have a definite conclusion to the rivalry.
The point is that the best way for Pacquiao to continue his Hall of Fame career is to continue fighting fighters who represent challenges. Morales at 130, Hatton at 140, Oscar at 147, those were all fights were people weren’t sure Pacquiao could do, but he passed each one of those tests. There are bigger challenges for him right now than Cotto or Margarito
Floyd Mayweather's a Coward: Manny Pacquiao Will Beat Antonio Margarito
By Colin Linneweber (Senior Analyst) on July 26, 2010 610
reads
11
comments
1
like
Tom Pennington/Getty Images Is Margarito a disgusting disgrace?
Yes
No
Submit Vote vote to see results Since “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather is a yellow charlatan, WBO world welterweight champion Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao will fight disgraced former WBA, IBF and WBO welterweight titleholder Antonio “Tijuana Tornado” Maragarito for the vacant WBC junior middleweight crown November 13 at a venue to be determined.
In order for Margarito (37-6, 27 KOs) to be eligible to fight Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs) in the United States, he first needs to regain his license to box.
If Margarito isn’t reinstated, promoter Bob Arum said the two will battle in Monterrey, Mexico.
The “Tijuana Tornado” had his boxing license justifiably revoked by the California State Athletic Commission for at least a year in February 2009 after it was confirmed that he attempted to scrap former WBA welterweight super champ “Sugar” Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) with a plaster-like substance inside of his hand wraps.
Fortunately, Margarito was caught and proven to be a disgusting scumbag by officials at the Staples Center in Los Angeles before the match began and had the opportunity to seriously injure Mosley with his cement fists.
Once Margarito had his illegal hand wraps removed, the “Tijuana Tornado” was promptly brutalized by Mosley and defeated by ninth round TKO.
Margarito is perceived as the quintessential tough and rugged Mexican pugilist in the ring.
Nevertheless, his attempted actions against Mosley are a cardinal sin in boxing and they should never be forgiven.
"Boxing is considered a crazy and animalistic sport," said Mike Cappiello, a native of Brockton who once fought for the IBO super featherweight title and retired with an impressive mark of 33-6. "Margarito's actions further hurt the outlook of boxing."
Cappiello, the owner of Cappiello Brothers Boxing gym in "The City of Champions," continued his stance against Margarito.
"You need to keep boxing as safe as possible and make sure nothing serious happens to boxers. Margarito should be suspended for more than a year to make a statement."
Margarito is beloved by Mexican fight fans and he is a popular attraction throughout much of the United States.
Once the cheating-weasel is again sanctioned to fight, it will be alluring to watch the “Tijuana Tornado” get savagely bludgeoned by “Pac-Man” this autumn as a form of ring justice.
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Is Margarito a disgusting disgrace?
Yes
No
Submit Vote vote to see results
Is Margarito a disgusting disgrace?
Yes
80.7%
No
19.3%Total votes: 57
reads
11
comments
1
like
Tom Pennington/Getty Images Is Margarito a disgusting disgrace?
Yes
No
Submit Vote vote to see results Since “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather is a yellow charlatan, WBO world welterweight champion Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao will fight disgraced former WBA, IBF and WBO welterweight titleholder Antonio “Tijuana Tornado” Maragarito for the vacant WBC junior middleweight crown November 13 at a venue to be determined.
In order for Margarito (37-6, 27 KOs) to be eligible to fight Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs) in the United States, he first needs to regain his license to box.
If Margarito isn’t reinstated, promoter Bob Arum said the two will battle in Monterrey, Mexico.
The “Tijuana Tornado” had his boxing license justifiably revoked by the California State Athletic Commission for at least a year in February 2009 after it was confirmed that he attempted to scrap former WBA welterweight super champ “Sugar” Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) with a plaster-like substance inside of his hand wraps.
Fortunately, Margarito was caught and proven to be a disgusting scumbag by officials at the Staples Center in Los Angeles before the match began and had the opportunity to seriously injure Mosley with his cement fists.
Once Margarito had his illegal hand wraps removed, the “Tijuana Tornado” was promptly brutalized by Mosley and defeated by ninth round TKO.
Margarito is perceived as the quintessential tough and rugged Mexican pugilist in the ring.
Nevertheless, his attempted actions against Mosley are a cardinal sin in boxing and they should never be forgiven.
"Boxing is considered a crazy and animalistic sport," said Mike Cappiello, a native of Brockton who once fought for the IBO super featherweight title and retired with an impressive mark of 33-6. "Margarito's actions further hurt the outlook of boxing."
Cappiello, the owner of Cappiello Brothers Boxing gym in "The City of Champions," continued his stance against Margarito.
"You need to keep boxing as safe as possible and make sure nothing serious happens to boxers. Margarito should be suspended for more than a year to make a statement."
Margarito is beloved by Mexican fight fans and he is a popular attraction throughout much of the United States.
Once the cheating-weasel is again sanctioned to fight, it will be alluring to watch the “Tijuana Tornado” get savagely bludgeoned by “Pac-Man” this autumn as a form of ring justice.
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Is Margarito a disgusting disgrace?
Yes
No
Submit Vote vote to see results
Is Margarito a disgusting disgrace?
Yes
80.7%
No
19.3%Total votes: 57
Pacquiao and Mayweather representatives still arguing over talks, who should we believe?
Although the fight talks are now long dead, for the time being at least, the controversy over what actually took place between the representatives of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather rages on.
As most fans will no doubt have read essentially one side says that the two were in negotiations to put together a fight, while the other insists nothing even remotely close to this ever took place.
Today though the final player in proceedings finally spoke up, hopefully ending speculation and settling the matter once and for all.
Fans on either side have been divided over which side should be believed, but today Ross Greenburg has given his side of things.
The one man in the middle of the two camps and who can probably be trusted more easily than anyone else is Greenburg, the president of HBO sports, and as such a neutral party. Unlike either side his interest in getting involved was purely that the fight would get made, and discrediting either side wouldn't have served him any purpose because he will still have to work with both in the future.
In a statement released today Greenburg said:
“Fights like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao are significant because of these fighters’ ability to connect with sports fans around the world. It’s unfortunate that it won’t happen in 2010. I had been negotiating with a representative from each side since May 2nd, carefully trying to put the fight together. Hopefully, someday this fight will happen. Sports fans deserve it.”
Greenburg's statement not only confirms that talks indeed were happening, but also clarifies what kind of negotiations were happening. It was speculated by many writers recently that the talks only actually consisted of Pacquiao's side making an offer through Greenburg, and Mayweather's camp subsequently ignoring it.
At the same time, Oscar De La Hoya today also claimed that there were no talks going on, a stance he shares with Golden Boy and team Mayweather. This despite the fact that he famously said that a fight agreement was very close on a Spanish television station, and then later claimed to have been misquoted.
When asked by boxingscene today why he previously claimed that the two sides were close to finalizing a fight deal, De La Hoya said:
"I think I said it because I get the question asked so many times that, obviously, I was fed up and tired of it and I just said like, yeah, yeah, it's gonna get made,"
"So it was a quick answer that I should have obviously thought about. But, obviously, negotiations weren't going on. Nothing was going on. Like I said, Mayweather has the key to making that fight happen."
What if anything occured between the two sides? There were talks between Mayweather and Pacquiao There were never any talks Pacquiao offered terms, Mayweather didn't respond Created on Jul 26, 2010
View Results
poll by twiigs.com
My assumption is that of all people, Greenburg is the man to trust in this situation. He has no vested interest in anything besides telling his side of the story, and probably has no preference between Top Rank and Golden Boy, who both provide him with big business.
Why the Mayweather team is continuing with their denial of the talks is certainly lost on most, and with Pacquiao now fighting Antonio Margarito in November and Mayweather possible looking into other fights himself, they might save themselves further embarrassment by just letting the matter drop.
Samuel Yorke, Pittsburgh: "Greenburg proves it, the Mayweathers have been lying all along"
Dennis Santiago, New York: "The public has already decided, so why are both sides still tring to outdo the other one? No one trusts Arum, Oscar or Schaefer but Greenburg isn't on anyone's side here so calling him a liar is pointless"
As most fans will no doubt have read essentially one side says that the two were in negotiations to put together a fight, while the other insists nothing even remotely close to this ever took place.
Today though the final player in proceedings finally spoke up, hopefully ending speculation and settling the matter once and for all.
Fans on either side have been divided over which side should be believed, but today Ross Greenburg has given his side of things.
The one man in the middle of the two camps and who can probably be trusted more easily than anyone else is Greenburg, the president of HBO sports, and as such a neutral party. Unlike either side his interest in getting involved was purely that the fight would get made, and discrediting either side wouldn't have served him any purpose because he will still have to work with both in the future.
In a statement released today Greenburg said:
“Fights like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao are significant because of these fighters’ ability to connect with sports fans around the world. It’s unfortunate that it won’t happen in 2010. I had been negotiating with a representative from each side since May 2nd, carefully trying to put the fight together. Hopefully, someday this fight will happen. Sports fans deserve it.”
Greenburg's statement not only confirms that talks indeed were happening, but also clarifies what kind of negotiations were happening. It was speculated by many writers recently that the talks only actually consisted of Pacquiao's side making an offer through Greenburg, and Mayweather's camp subsequently ignoring it.
At the same time, Oscar De La Hoya today also claimed that there were no talks going on, a stance he shares with Golden Boy and team Mayweather. This despite the fact that he famously said that a fight agreement was very close on a Spanish television station, and then later claimed to have been misquoted.
When asked by boxingscene today why he previously claimed that the two sides were close to finalizing a fight deal, De La Hoya said:
"I think I said it because I get the question asked so many times that, obviously, I was fed up and tired of it and I just said like, yeah, yeah, it's gonna get made,"
"So it was a quick answer that I should have obviously thought about. But, obviously, negotiations weren't going on. Nothing was going on. Like I said, Mayweather has the key to making that fight happen."
What if anything occured between the two sides? There were talks between Mayweather and Pacquiao There were never any talks Pacquiao offered terms, Mayweather didn't respond Created on Jul 26, 2010
View Results
poll by twiigs.com
My assumption is that of all people, Greenburg is the man to trust in this situation. He has no vested interest in anything besides telling his side of the story, and probably has no preference between Top Rank and Golden Boy, who both provide him with big business.
Why the Mayweather team is continuing with their denial of the talks is certainly lost on most, and with Pacquiao now fighting Antonio Margarito in November and Mayweather possible looking into other fights himself, they might save themselves further embarrassment by just letting the matter drop.
Samuel Yorke, Pittsburgh: "Greenburg proves it, the Mayweathers have been lying all along"
Dennis Santiago, New York: "The public has already decided, so why are both sides still tring to outdo the other one? No one trusts Arum, Oscar or Schaefer but Greenburg isn't on anyone's side here so calling him a liar is pointless"
Pacquiao-Mayweather: Which Is Worse, Being Labeled a Juicer or Chicken?
By King J (Featured Columnist) on July 26, 2010 341
reads
38
comments
1
like
Jeoffrey Maitem/Getty Images Would You rather be Labled:
Juicer
Chicken
Chicken Juice
Submit Vote vote to see results Back in March, when the then-Pacquiao vs. Mayweather dream fight first began to fall apart into a downward spiral (yes, the first time), allegations were made against Pacquiao using performance-enhancement drugs and although these allegations have still yet to be proven many started to label Manny a steroid user because he refused to commit to Team Mayweather’s then-random drug testing agreement for their fight.
From that point on, many fight fans flooded the forums weighing in on whether Manny Pacquiao indeed uses performing enhancement drugs.
The publicity from this even got rival fight promoting company figures such as Golden Boy and credible media boxing figures such as Teddy Atlas weighing in as well with their own opinions and alleged inside information.
There was a severe backlash and Pacquiao’s almost unblemished public image was significantly tarnished with many fight fans and even fellow fighters and media all taking their sides giving Manny the label of being a “juicer.”
So for several months, many casual fans started to hate on Manny, questioning all his past achievements because of this new label of being a supposed “juicer.”
Then flash forward four months later to today, and ironically much of the public has either forgotten or does not view Manny to be “juicer” anymore, but instead they are labeling Floyd Mayweather as a chicken.
Primarily for not meeting Bob Arum’s supposed deadline from two weeks ago.
Much of the media including journalists from ESPN, and other credible boxing figures are labeling Mayweather a chicken for not responding to Bob Arum’s alleged deadline.
Floyd has however been on vacation in Puerto Rico and his team have stated that there were never any actual negotiations going on and there was never a contract presented to them.
Whether this is true or not or a stretch of the truth the media and public have now labeled Floyd a chicken and a coward for ducking Manny Pacquiao.
Now the real question of the hour is would you rather be considered and labeled a: “juicer” or a “chicken”. In the world of boxing both of these labels are obvious career killers and probably two of the worst things that a fighter can be known as.
I remember when I was in college and we all had to write this monster final project research paper. I asked Sergio a classmate of mine who had finished the course last year if I can read some of his paper and he showed me this award winning dissertation written by some Ivy League scholar who looked like he was writing in some foreign language. I then asked him where the hell did he get this paper from? Then I realized this was his actual paper and I thought for sure he had plagiarized the whole thing for it seemed like something he was never capable of writing. At first it may seem quite insulting to Sergio that I strongly disbelieved he could ever write this paper, but he responded to me, “Well thanks, this is the biggest compliment ever…. you are basically saying my paper was so exceptional.”
Ironically this is a unique way of viewing Pacquiao and his still unproven PED usage. Many began to believe the rumors were true about Pacquiao using PED’s because of his exceptional accomplishments in the ring which made him appear simply on a different level from all of his recent opponents.
However, when thinking of Floyd Mayweather being labeled a chicken, I cannot seem to twist that label into anything positive at all. It reminds me of a time growing up in Chicago in the early 1990’s when the gangs were really out of control back home.
There was a war going on between two of the biggest gangs of Chicago always fighting and killing each other every where you went.
Finally, the leaders of these rival gangs decided to settle it once and for all with an old fashion rumble in the forest preserve in the middle of the night on a Saturday.
Word had spread like wildfire that these two big gangs were going to have a big mother rumble and everyone in the civilian world started weighing in on who would win this rumble.
One gang reached out to their affiliates another even bigger gang in Chicago to team up and fight with them on their side for the rumble where the other rival gang pretty much remained very mysterious and quiet.
Finally that Saturday night came and the first gang showed up hundreds deep at the designated location with all intentions to win this war once and for all.
But the only problem was that the rival gang never showed up and so you had hundreds of gang members fired up and ready to fight and kill but nobody to fight and kill that night.
So shortly after that night this rival gang began to spread word that they never knew about this rumble ever taking place. They kept claiming that had they known they were supposed to rumble that Saturday night then it would have gone down for sure.
If you can imagine this gang started to lose a lot of street credibility and their reputation was pretty much done for many of their rivals began to lose respect for them and started to take them lightly.
This pretty much is what happened in Floyd Mayweather’s case. I personally do not think he is really scared or the chicken that everyone is labeling him these days however I can see how the general public may view him as that.
Had someone from Mayweather’s team expressed their thoughts or made a statement prior to the deadline then it would have helped maintain Mayweather's reputation instead of waiting until Bob Arum’s deadline, legit or not, came and passed.
So again if you had to chose. Would you rather be labeled a “juicer” or a “chicken”?
I personally would prefer to be labeled a juicer for the reasons I explained earlier in this article, for only greats who compete on a whole different level are often being accused of juicing. You never see a loser being accused of juicing.
How about you? “juicer” or “chicken”?
This article is making me hungry; time for dinner.
reads
38
comments
1
like
Jeoffrey Maitem/Getty Images Would You rather be Labled:
Juicer
Chicken
Chicken Juice
Submit Vote vote to see results Back in March, when the then-Pacquiao vs. Mayweather dream fight first began to fall apart into a downward spiral (yes, the first time), allegations were made against Pacquiao using performance-enhancement drugs and although these allegations have still yet to be proven many started to label Manny a steroid user because he refused to commit to Team Mayweather’s then-random drug testing agreement for their fight.
From that point on, many fight fans flooded the forums weighing in on whether Manny Pacquiao indeed uses performing enhancement drugs.
The publicity from this even got rival fight promoting company figures such as Golden Boy and credible media boxing figures such as Teddy Atlas weighing in as well with their own opinions and alleged inside information.
There was a severe backlash and Pacquiao’s almost unblemished public image was significantly tarnished with many fight fans and even fellow fighters and media all taking their sides giving Manny the label of being a “juicer.”
So for several months, many casual fans started to hate on Manny, questioning all his past achievements because of this new label of being a supposed “juicer.”
Then flash forward four months later to today, and ironically much of the public has either forgotten or does not view Manny to be “juicer” anymore, but instead they are labeling Floyd Mayweather as a chicken.
Primarily for not meeting Bob Arum’s supposed deadline from two weeks ago.
Much of the media including journalists from ESPN, and other credible boxing figures are labeling Mayweather a chicken for not responding to Bob Arum’s alleged deadline.
Floyd has however been on vacation in Puerto Rico and his team have stated that there were never any actual negotiations going on and there was never a contract presented to them.
Whether this is true or not or a stretch of the truth the media and public have now labeled Floyd a chicken and a coward for ducking Manny Pacquiao.
Now the real question of the hour is would you rather be considered and labeled a: “juicer” or a “chicken”. In the world of boxing both of these labels are obvious career killers and probably two of the worst things that a fighter can be known as.
I remember when I was in college and we all had to write this monster final project research paper. I asked Sergio a classmate of mine who had finished the course last year if I can read some of his paper and he showed me this award winning dissertation written by some Ivy League scholar who looked like he was writing in some foreign language. I then asked him where the hell did he get this paper from? Then I realized this was his actual paper and I thought for sure he had plagiarized the whole thing for it seemed like something he was never capable of writing. At first it may seem quite insulting to Sergio that I strongly disbelieved he could ever write this paper, but he responded to me, “Well thanks, this is the biggest compliment ever…. you are basically saying my paper was so exceptional.”
Ironically this is a unique way of viewing Pacquiao and his still unproven PED usage. Many began to believe the rumors were true about Pacquiao using PED’s because of his exceptional accomplishments in the ring which made him appear simply on a different level from all of his recent opponents.
However, when thinking of Floyd Mayweather being labeled a chicken, I cannot seem to twist that label into anything positive at all. It reminds me of a time growing up in Chicago in the early 1990’s when the gangs were really out of control back home.
There was a war going on between two of the biggest gangs of Chicago always fighting and killing each other every where you went.
Finally, the leaders of these rival gangs decided to settle it once and for all with an old fashion rumble in the forest preserve in the middle of the night on a Saturday.
Word had spread like wildfire that these two big gangs were going to have a big mother rumble and everyone in the civilian world started weighing in on who would win this rumble.
One gang reached out to their affiliates another even bigger gang in Chicago to team up and fight with them on their side for the rumble where the other rival gang pretty much remained very mysterious and quiet.
Finally that Saturday night came and the first gang showed up hundreds deep at the designated location with all intentions to win this war once and for all.
But the only problem was that the rival gang never showed up and so you had hundreds of gang members fired up and ready to fight and kill but nobody to fight and kill that night.
So shortly after that night this rival gang began to spread word that they never knew about this rumble ever taking place. They kept claiming that had they known they were supposed to rumble that Saturday night then it would have gone down for sure.
If you can imagine this gang started to lose a lot of street credibility and their reputation was pretty much done for many of their rivals began to lose respect for them and started to take them lightly.
This pretty much is what happened in Floyd Mayweather’s case. I personally do not think he is really scared or the chicken that everyone is labeling him these days however I can see how the general public may view him as that.
Had someone from Mayweather’s team expressed their thoughts or made a statement prior to the deadline then it would have helped maintain Mayweather's reputation instead of waiting until Bob Arum’s deadline, legit or not, came and passed.
So again if you had to chose. Would you rather be labeled a “juicer” or a “chicken”?
I personally would prefer to be labeled a juicer for the reasons I explained earlier in this article, for only greats who compete on a whole different level are often being accused of juicing. You never see a loser being accused of juicing.
How about you? “juicer” or “chicken”?
This article is making me hungry; time for dinner.
HBO's Ross Greenburg: Mayweather-Pacquiao Negotiations Took Place
In his first public statements since the fallout from the alleged failed negotiations of Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao, HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg acknowledged that he acted as a mediator between Mayweather's handlers and those of Pacquiao's from Top Rank Promotions in an effort to bring their highly-anticipated fight to fruition.
Bob Arum, Top Rank Promotions' CEO, told reporters on July 16 that he had been negotiating with Mayweather's manager, Al Haymon, with Greenburg acting as the mediator. Golden Boy Promotions' president, Oscar De La Hoya, and Mayweather's adviser, Leonard Ellerbe, recently denied that negotiations took place.
In his statement e-mailed through his public relations department, Greenburg did not name Haymon or Arum, although he corroborated Arum's assertion.
"Fights like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao are significant because of these fighters' ability to connect with sports fans around the world," said Greenburg. "It's unfortunate that it won't happen in 2010,"
"I had been negotiating with a representative from each side since May 2nd, carefully trying to put the fight together," said Greenburg. "Hopefully, someday this fight will happen. Sports fans deserve it."
Golden Boy Promotions' CEO, Richard Schaefer, disputed Ross's claims.
"The only thing that I can say is that I stand behind my previous statement which is that I am not aware of any negotiations having taken place. I don't know where that statement from Ross is coming from. He didn't negotiate with me, and I have a very close relationship with Leonard Ellerbe and with Al Haymon, and I'm not aware that either one of them had held negotiations with Ross Greenburg," said Schaefer, whose company has promoted Mayweather's past two victories over Juan Manuel Marquez and Shane Mosley.
"It must have been quite a negotiation for Bob Arum to issue a statement that the fight was done, and that the members of Team Mayweather, whomever Ross was supposed to be negotiating with, were okay with the terms on the table, and that the deal was simply awaiting Floyd Mayweather's signature," said Schaefer.
"That must have been something that he had heard from Ross," said Schaefer. "So I would be anxious to know who Ross was negotiating those terms with and who gave Ross the indication that any potential terms on the table were acceptable to Mayweather, because I'm sure that Bob wouldn't say those things unless he was told them by Ross."
Not long after Arum's conference call, Ellerbe released a statement denying the negotiations ever took place.
"Here are the facts. Al Haymon, Richard Schaefer and myself speak to each other on a regular basis, and the truth is no negotiations have ever taken place," stated Ellerbe. "Nor was there ever a deal agreed upon by Team Mayweather or Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13. Either Ross Greenburg or Bob Arum is not telling the truth, but history tells us who is lying."
Arum responded by calling Ellerbe's statements, "preposterous," and, "totally bizarre," adding, "it's almost like dealing with people who have lost their minds."
Arum could not be reached for comment.
"Bob Arum is probably upset because he has no control over anything that Floyd does, so I stand behind the statement that I gave last week 100 percent, and I pay absolutely no attention to Arum attempting to attack me personally by calling me crazy," said Ellerbe of Arum, who once promoted Mayweather.
"Call me crazy if you want to, but I deal with the facts. And these are the facts: Floyd Mayweather has become the biggest star in the sport, and has made over $120 million since he left Arum. So if that makes me crazy, then, so be it."
Read More: WBA WBC WBO Golden Boy Promotions Boxing Rumors HBO Top Rank Promotions Al+Haymon, Bob+Arum, Floyd+Mayweather, Juan+Manuel+Marquez, Leonard+Ellerbe, Manny+Pacquiao, Oscar+De+La+Hoya, Richard+Schaefer, Ross+Greenburg, Shane+Mosley
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Bob Arum, Top Rank Promotions' CEO, told reporters on July 16 that he had been negotiating with Mayweather's manager, Al Haymon, with Greenburg acting as the mediator. Golden Boy Promotions' president, Oscar De La Hoya, and Mayweather's adviser, Leonard Ellerbe, recently denied that negotiations took place.
In his statement e-mailed through his public relations department, Greenburg did not name Haymon or Arum, although he corroborated Arum's assertion.
"Fights like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao are significant because of these fighters' ability to connect with sports fans around the world," said Greenburg. "It's unfortunate that it won't happen in 2010,"
"I had been negotiating with a representative from each side since May 2nd, carefully trying to put the fight together," said Greenburg. "Hopefully, someday this fight will happen. Sports fans deserve it."
Golden Boy Promotions' CEO, Richard Schaefer, disputed Ross's claims.
"The only thing that I can say is that I stand behind my previous statement which is that I am not aware of any negotiations having taken place. I don't know where that statement from Ross is coming from. He didn't negotiate with me, and I have a very close relationship with Leonard Ellerbe and with Al Haymon, and I'm not aware that either one of them had held negotiations with Ross Greenburg," said Schaefer, whose company has promoted Mayweather's past two victories over Juan Manuel Marquez and Shane Mosley.
"It must have been quite a negotiation for Bob Arum to issue a statement that the fight was done, and that the members of Team Mayweather, whomever Ross was supposed to be negotiating with, were okay with the terms on the table, and that the deal was simply awaiting Floyd Mayweather's signature," said Schaefer.
"That must have been something that he had heard from Ross," said Schaefer. "So I would be anxious to know who Ross was negotiating those terms with and who gave Ross the indication that any potential terms on the table were acceptable to Mayweather, because I'm sure that Bob wouldn't say those things unless he was told them by Ross."
Not long after Arum's conference call, Ellerbe released a statement denying the negotiations ever took place.
"Here are the facts. Al Haymon, Richard Schaefer and myself speak to each other on a regular basis, and the truth is no negotiations have ever taken place," stated Ellerbe. "Nor was there ever a deal agreed upon by Team Mayweather or Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13. Either Ross Greenburg or Bob Arum is not telling the truth, but history tells us who is lying."
Arum responded by calling Ellerbe's statements, "preposterous," and, "totally bizarre," adding, "it's almost like dealing with people who have lost their minds."
Arum could not be reached for comment.
"Bob Arum is probably upset because he has no control over anything that Floyd does, so I stand behind the statement that I gave last week 100 percent, and I pay absolutely no attention to Arum attempting to attack me personally by calling me crazy," said Ellerbe of Arum, who once promoted Mayweather.
"Call me crazy if you want to, but I deal with the facts. And these are the facts: Floyd Mayweather has become the biggest star in the sport, and has made over $120 million since he left Arum. So if that makes me crazy, then, so be it."
Read More: WBA WBC WBO Golden Boy Promotions Boxing Rumors HBO Top Rank Promotions Al+Haymon, Bob+Arum, Floyd+Mayweather, Juan+Manuel+Marquez, Leonard+Ellerbe, Manny+Pacquiao, Oscar+De+La+Hoya, Richard+Schaefer, Ross+Greenburg, Shane+Mosley
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Manny Pacquiao Might Fall into Floyd Mayweather's Trap
By Troy Sparks (Contributor) on July 26, 2010 267
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Jeoffrey Maitem/Getty Images If Manny Pacquiao sticks with the November fight date, it may be a curse for him.
Antonio Margarito is a good challenger.
This might be a tune-up fight for the Pac Man.
But what if he retires from boxing after the Margarito match?
Pacquiao fighting Margarito is like a panther fighting an alleycat.
It's as safe of a fight as one could want. I think that HBO would be nuts to air this garbage fight.
Should the fight take place in Las Vegas, it'll be right in Floyd Mayweather's backyard. And if Mayweather shows up in person to watch, then he wins the mind game.
His presence might throw Pac Man off his game, which could take his attention off his fight with Margarito.
Pacquiao might see Mayweather's face with a twist of the neck when he's is sitting on the stool between rounds.
Or maybe he won't, if trainer Freddie Roach stays in his face and blocks Pac Man's view
Mayweather probably would call out Pacquiao after the fight on TV.
That was the same thing Shane Mosley did to "Money" in the ring after he won last year. As the homies would say in the streets, Mayweather would be "keeping it gangster."
I would like the cameras to zoom in on Mayweather after each round to get his reaction. Maybe he can commentate on the fight and get a close-up view. Then Mayweather will get a scouting report on his next "opponent," if the deal is back on.
I bet that Mayweather will wait until Pacquiao is worn out after his match with Margarito before announcing his interest in re-opening negotiations.
That's the mind game he loves to play sometimes.
In his case, Mayweather will be well-rested and fresh.
It adds pressure on the Pacquiao camp to talk to Team Mayweather to get their man signed and trained in less than six months.
What's at stake is millions of dollars, which Pacquiao will need 10 bags to carry after the projected pay-per-view figures are computed.
Or, maybe he'll need half a bag after the money-grubbing managing team takes over 80 percent of it.
The pound-for-pound fight will be up for grabs, and I can't wait to watch it.
If Mayweather comes down to 140, he can still handle Pacquiao and take the junior welterwweight title.
My prediction is that Pac Man will beat Margarita for his belt.
Then, if Mayweather agree to come down to Jr. welterweight and the belt is on the line, he'll dish out the whooping and take the belt too.
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Jeoffrey Maitem/Getty Images If Manny Pacquiao sticks with the November fight date, it may be a curse for him.
Antonio Margarito is a good challenger.
This might be a tune-up fight for the Pac Man.
But what if he retires from boxing after the Margarito match?
Pacquiao fighting Margarito is like a panther fighting an alleycat.
It's as safe of a fight as one could want. I think that HBO would be nuts to air this garbage fight.
Should the fight take place in Las Vegas, it'll be right in Floyd Mayweather's backyard. And if Mayweather shows up in person to watch, then he wins the mind game.
His presence might throw Pac Man off his game, which could take his attention off his fight with Margarito.
Pacquiao might see Mayweather's face with a twist of the neck when he's is sitting on the stool between rounds.
Or maybe he won't, if trainer Freddie Roach stays in his face and blocks Pac Man's view
Mayweather probably would call out Pacquiao after the fight on TV.
That was the same thing Shane Mosley did to "Money" in the ring after he won last year. As the homies would say in the streets, Mayweather would be "keeping it gangster."
I would like the cameras to zoom in on Mayweather after each round to get his reaction. Maybe he can commentate on the fight and get a close-up view. Then Mayweather will get a scouting report on his next "opponent," if the deal is back on.
I bet that Mayweather will wait until Pacquiao is worn out after his match with Margarito before announcing his interest in re-opening negotiations.
That's the mind game he loves to play sometimes.
In his case, Mayweather will be well-rested and fresh.
It adds pressure on the Pacquiao camp to talk to Team Mayweather to get their man signed and trained in less than six months.
What's at stake is millions of dollars, which Pacquiao will need 10 bags to carry after the projected pay-per-view figures are computed.
Or, maybe he'll need half a bag after the money-grubbing managing team takes over 80 percent of it.
The pound-for-pound fight will be up for grabs, and I can't wait to watch it.
If Mayweather comes down to 140, he can still handle Pacquiao and take the junior welterwweight title.
My prediction is that Pac Man will beat Margarita for his belt.
Then, if Mayweather agree to come down to Jr. welterweight and the belt is on the line, he'll dish out the whooping and take the belt too.
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HBO Sports president discusses Mayweather-Pacquiao talks
The president of HBO Sports announced that he did negotiate with representatives of both Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. to try to stage a super-fight between the pair this year.
Ross Greenburg, in a prepared statement e-mailed to The Times on Monday, said, "Fights like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao are significant because of these fighters' ability to connect with sports fans around the world.
"It's unfortunate that it won't happen in 2010.
"I had been negotiating with a representative from each side since May 2, carefully trying to put the fight together. Hopefully, someday this fight will happen. Sports fans deserve it."
Greenburg's statement contradicts a prepared statement by Mayweather's lead advisor, Leonard Ellerbe, released in the days after Pacquiao promoter, Bob Arum, said he was moving on past the deadline for Pacquiao's exclusive talks with Mayweather. Pacquiao will now fight Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13 at a site to be determined.
"No negotiations have ever taken place, nor was there ever a deal agreed upon by Team Mayweather or Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13," Ellerbe said then. "Either Ross Greenburg or Bob Arum is not telling the truth, but history tells us who is lying."
Arum responded to Greenburg's statement by criticizing Oscar De La Hoya and his Golden Boy Promotions Chief Executive Richard Schaefer for previously describing negotiations as "very close," -- as De La Hoya formerly told a Spanish-language television network -- and for not being more forthcoming about talks.
Schaefer, reached Monday by The Times, said he was unsure what prompted Greenburg's statement and said, "[Greenburg] has not negotiated with me, let me put it like that," and added he had no information that Greenburg had talked to Mayweather's manager, Al Haymon, either.
"Leonard, me and Al talk on a regular basis, and I'm not aware of these 'negotiations' taking place, and I'm totally surprised Ross Greenburg would claim differently. If these negotiations took place, I'm confident I would have been aware of them."
De La Hoya, at a media day in Hollywood for Saturday's Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz fight in Las Vegas, said he originally described talks as "very close" because, "I was getting the question so often, I was hearing it in my sleep," he said. "I was like, 'Yeah, yeah, it's close.' But I really didn't know."
Arum said Greenburg, who was apparently acting as a mediator of sorts, portrayed negotiations "exactly as I saw it, and how I acted. Ross is reflecting what the facts were. The [Ellerbe] statement defied explanation.
"You don't lie to the press. And the thing Oscar had said ... they've done the unpardonable: They've lied to the press."
Schaefer said he didn't appreciate the timing of Greenburg's statement as the promoter worked on fight-week preparations in Las Vegas for Golden Boy's HBO pay-per-view card, headlined by the Marquez-Diaz world lightweight title fight.
"I find it extremely unprofessional the president of HBO Sports would issue this statement before this weekend's Golden Boy fights, one of our deepest cards ever," Schaefer said. "My entire focus this week is on the well-being of this pay-per-view card on HBO, and they would be well-served to do the same thing."
-- Lance Pugmire
Ross Greenburg, in a prepared statement e-mailed to The Times on Monday, said, "Fights like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao are significant because of these fighters' ability to connect with sports fans around the world.
"It's unfortunate that it won't happen in 2010.
"I had been negotiating with a representative from each side since May 2, carefully trying to put the fight together. Hopefully, someday this fight will happen. Sports fans deserve it."
Greenburg's statement contradicts a prepared statement by Mayweather's lead advisor, Leonard Ellerbe, released in the days after Pacquiao promoter, Bob Arum, said he was moving on past the deadline for Pacquiao's exclusive talks with Mayweather. Pacquiao will now fight Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13 at a site to be determined.
"No negotiations have ever taken place, nor was there ever a deal agreed upon by Team Mayweather or Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13," Ellerbe said then. "Either Ross Greenburg or Bob Arum is not telling the truth, but history tells us who is lying."
Arum responded to Greenburg's statement by criticizing Oscar De La Hoya and his Golden Boy Promotions Chief Executive Richard Schaefer for previously describing negotiations as "very close," -- as De La Hoya formerly told a Spanish-language television network -- and for not being more forthcoming about talks.
Schaefer, reached Monday by The Times, said he was unsure what prompted Greenburg's statement and said, "[Greenburg] has not negotiated with me, let me put it like that," and added he had no information that Greenburg had talked to Mayweather's manager, Al Haymon, either.
"Leonard, me and Al talk on a regular basis, and I'm not aware of these 'negotiations' taking place, and I'm totally surprised Ross Greenburg would claim differently. If these negotiations took place, I'm confident I would have been aware of them."
De La Hoya, at a media day in Hollywood for Saturday's Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz fight in Las Vegas, said he originally described talks as "very close" because, "I was getting the question so often, I was hearing it in my sleep," he said. "I was like, 'Yeah, yeah, it's close.' But I really didn't know."
Arum said Greenburg, who was apparently acting as a mediator of sorts, portrayed negotiations "exactly as I saw it, and how I acted. Ross is reflecting what the facts were. The [Ellerbe] statement defied explanation.
"You don't lie to the press. And the thing Oscar had said ... they've done the unpardonable: They've lied to the press."
Schaefer said he didn't appreciate the timing of Greenburg's statement as the promoter worked on fight-week preparations in Las Vegas for Golden Boy's HBO pay-per-view card, headlined by the Marquez-Diaz world lightweight title fight.
"I find it extremely unprofessional the president of HBO Sports would issue this statement before this weekend's Golden Boy fights, one of our deepest cards ever," Schaefer said. "My entire focus this week is on the well-being of this pay-per-view card on HBO, and they would be well-served to do the same thing."
-- Lance Pugmire
Mayweather and Pacquiao Can’t Seem to Agree
By GREG BISHOP
Published: July 26, 2010
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CloseLinkedinDiggMixxMySpaceYahoo! BuzzPermalink Surreal negotiations between representatives for Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. included a flap over drug testing, an election in the Philippines, a gag order, a 3 a.m. conference call and a firm denial that the second round of discussions even took place.
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Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images
Floyd Mayweather Jr. beat Shane Mosely in May.
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Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images
Manny Pacquiao will fight Antonio Margarito next.
Enlarge This Image
Steve Marcus/Reuters
The suspended fighter Antonio Margarito at a hearing of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. He was barred when a hardened substance was found in his glove before a fight in 2009.
The back-and-forth has produced everything except an actual fight.
Instead, Pacquiao will soon sign an agreement to face Antonio Margarito in November, adding another subplot to the highly anticipated but increasingly unlikely main event.
“This is out of never-never land,” said Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter with Top Rank Boxing. “I’ve seen fights fall apart for all sorts of reasons. But this is the twilight zone.”
Boxing history is filled with such strange sagas, but rarely, if ever, have two fighters who stand to divide some $60 million to $80 million not reached an agreement. For the longtime HBO boxing analyst Larry Merchant, this seems “if not unique, then unimaginable.”
The stall has little to do with money. Both boxers were ranked in the Forbes Celebrity 100 list. Mayweather (No. 31) made $65 million in his last two fights, placing him sixth among athletes and higher than David Beckham and Alex Rodriguez. (Pacquiao was 55th.)
“Usually, when there’s this much money involved, they find a way to split it up,” Merchant said. “But that’s never been an issue here. The appearance is that Pacquiao agreed to virtually all of Mayweather’s demands, and Mayweather couldn’t take yes for an answer.”
Mayweather last fought twice in the same year in 2007, and since his triumph over Shane Mosley in May, he twice stated that he was not thinking about boxing. What Mayweather did not do is issue a formal statement, which seemingly would have ended all the fuss.
Previous negotiations had imploded because Pacquiao balked at Mayweather’s demands for Olympic-style blood testing up until the fight. After those discussions turned acrimonious and public, a gag order went into place.
The sides disagree on what happened next. Arum said Ross Greenburg, the president of HBO Sports, acted as an intermediary between Top Rank and Al Haymon, a Mayweather representative. Greenburg confirmed that for the first time Monday, saying he “had been negotiating with a representative from each side since May 2.”
Arum declined to discuss specifics but said that this time Pacquiao made additional concessions, addressing each of Mayweather’s concerns.
Mayweather did not participate in these talks. Perhaps this information never reached him. Perhaps he disagrees that these were, in fact, negotiations. But Arum and Greenburg dispute that, and Oscar De La Hoya, a Mayweather co-promoter recently, told Univision in June that the fight was “very close.”
Mayweather’s camp declined to comment Monday, but it released a statement July 19 — three days after Arum’s self-imposed fight deadline, which came complete with the early-morning conference call, had passed. The statement denied the existence of negotiations and ominously concluded, “history tells us who is lying.”
Before their falling-out, Arum once promoted Mayweather, and he said that the fighter’s unblemished record (41-0) remained his most important asset. “If he lost that, it would be like dying,” Arum said.
Merchant said it left the question, rightly or wrongly, of whether Mayweather simply does not want to fight Pacquiao, a notion that Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, asserted Monday.
“Whenever you deal with a Mayweather, it’s going to be bizarre,” Roach said. “Let’s face it. He’s playing games, trying to call shots, making his own rules. At this point, I don’t care if we ever fight him. Mayweather is scared to fight us. He can bet on cockfights in Puerto Rico for the rest of his life for all I care.”
Roach was referring to a video that surfaced recently of Mayweather at a cockfight. Roach also recently shelved the Mayweather tapes he had been studying, tapes he said showed Mayweather was “hittable” and “getting older.”
Still, Roach added that each day, someone asked about the potential bout, including a recent inquiry by Sylvester Stallone. Instead, Pacquiao will fight Margarito, a former champion suspended for a year by the California State Athletic Commission after a hardened substance was discovered in his hand wraps before he fought Mosley in 2009.
Potential sites for the bout include Las Vegas, Dallas and Atlantic City, Arum said, but each would require Margarito to obtain a state license. Beyond that, Mosley destroyed Margarito, before Mayweather destroyed Mosley, and now Margarito will fight Pacquiao, with only a lackluster victory against Robert Garcia in between.
Should Margarito fail to obtain a license, Arum said the fight would take place in Monterrey, Mexico. (A long-shot group from the United Arab Emirates also bid.)
Merchant, for one, says Arum could have found a more worthy opponent than Margarito, like Andre Berto, Timothy Bradley, or Juan Manuel Marquez for the third time. Top Rank has been criticized for refusing to make fights outside of its stable, which includes Margarito.
All parties agree that the sport loses if Pacquiao-Mayweather fails to materialize. Merchant said boxing needed its high-profile, glamorous events, its Super Bowls, its routes into the casual sports’ fan’s wallet. Greenburg labeled the dream matchup significant “because of the fighters’ ability to connect with sports fans around the world.”
Arum added, “To have a seminal fight of this kind not happen is a sad, sad thing for the state of boxing.”
Merchant says the fight will happen, but not until next year. Meanwhile, Mayweather, perhaps the single most important entity in this odd drama, remained silent
Published: July 26, 2010
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CloseLinkedinDiggMixxMySpaceYahoo! BuzzPermalink Surreal negotiations between representatives for Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. included a flap over drug testing, an election in the Philippines, a gag order, a 3 a.m. conference call and a firm denial that the second round of discussions even took place.
Enlarge This Image
Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images
Floyd Mayweather Jr. beat Shane Mosely in May.
Enlarge This Image
Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images
Manny Pacquiao will fight Antonio Margarito next.
Enlarge This Image
Steve Marcus/Reuters
The suspended fighter Antonio Margarito at a hearing of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. He was barred when a hardened substance was found in his glove before a fight in 2009.
The back-and-forth has produced everything except an actual fight.
Instead, Pacquiao will soon sign an agreement to face Antonio Margarito in November, adding another subplot to the highly anticipated but increasingly unlikely main event.
“This is out of never-never land,” said Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter with Top Rank Boxing. “I’ve seen fights fall apart for all sorts of reasons. But this is the twilight zone.”
Boxing history is filled with such strange sagas, but rarely, if ever, have two fighters who stand to divide some $60 million to $80 million not reached an agreement. For the longtime HBO boxing analyst Larry Merchant, this seems “if not unique, then unimaginable.”
The stall has little to do with money. Both boxers were ranked in the Forbes Celebrity 100 list. Mayweather (No. 31) made $65 million in his last two fights, placing him sixth among athletes and higher than David Beckham and Alex Rodriguez. (Pacquiao was 55th.)
“Usually, when there’s this much money involved, they find a way to split it up,” Merchant said. “But that’s never been an issue here. The appearance is that Pacquiao agreed to virtually all of Mayweather’s demands, and Mayweather couldn’t take yes for an answer.”
Mayweather last fought twice in the same year in 2007, and since his triumph over Shane Mosley in May, he twice stated that he was not thinking about boxing. What Mayweather did not do is issue a formal statement, which seemingly would have ended all the fuss.
Previous negotiations had imploded because Pacquiao balked at Mayweather’s demands for Olympic-style blood testing up until the fight. After those discussions turned acrimonious and public, a gag order went into place.
The sides disagree on what happened next. Arum said Ross Greenburg, the president of HBO Sports, acted as an intermediary between Top Rank and Al Haymon, a Mayweather representative. Greenburg confirmed that for the first time Monday, saying he “had been negotiating with a representative from each side since May 2.”
Arum declined to discuss specifics but said that this time Pacquiao made additional concessions, addressing each of Mayweather’s concerns.
Mayweather did not participate in these talks. Perhaps this information never reached him. Perhaps he disagrees that these were, in fact, negotiations. But Arum and Greenburg dispute that, and Oscar De La Hoya, a Mayweather co-promoter recently, told Univision in June that the fight was “very close.”
Mayweather’s camp declined to comment Monday, but it released a statement July 19 — three days after Arum’s self-imposed fight deadline, which came complete with the early-morning conference call, had passed. The statement denied the existence of negotiations and ominously concluded, “history tells us who is lying.”
Before their falling-out, Arum once promoted Mayweather, and he said that the fighter’s unblemished record (41-0) remained his most important asset. “If he lost that, it would be like dying,” Arum said.
Merchant said it left the question, rightly or wrongly, of whether Mayweather simply does not want to fight Pacquiao, a notion that Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, asserted Monday.
“Whenever you deal with a Mayweather, it’s going to be bizarre,” Roach said. “Let’s face it. He’s playing games, trying to call shots, making his own rules. At this point, I don’t care if we ever fight him. Mayweather is scared to fight us. He can bet on cockfights in Puerto Rico for the rest of his life for all I care.”
Roach was referring to a video that surfaced recently of Mayweather at a cockfight. Roach also recently shelved the Mayweather tapes he had been studying, tapes he said showed Mayweather was “hittable” and “getting older.”
Still, Roach added that each day, someone asked about the potential bout, including a recent inquiry by Sylvester Stallone. Instead, Pacquiao will fight Margarito, a former champion suspended for a year by the California State Athletic Commission after a hardened substance was discovered in his hand wraps before he fought Mosley in 2009.
Potential sites for the bout include Las Vegas, Dallas and Atlantic City, Arum said, but each would require Margarito to obtain a state license. Beyond that, Mosley destroyed Margarito, before Mayweather destroyed Mosley, and now Margarito will fight Pacquiao, with only a lackluster victory against Robert Garcia in between.
Should Margarito fail to obtain a license, Arum said the fight would take place in Monterrey, Mexico. (A long-shot group from the United Arab Emirates also bid.)
Merchant, for one, says Arum could have found a more worthy opponent than Margarito, like Andre Berto, Timothy Bradley, or Juan Manuel Marquez for the third time. Top Rank has been criticized for refusing to make fights outside of its stable, which includes Margarito.
All parties agree that the sport loses if Pacquiao-Mayweather fails to materialize. Merchant said boxing needed its high-profile, glamorous events, its Super Bowls, its routes into the casual sports’ fan’s wallet. Greenburg labeled the dream matchup significant “because of the fighters’ ability to connect with sports fans around the world.”
Arum added, “To have a seminal fight of this kind not happen is a sad, sad thing for the state of boxing.”
Merchant says the fight will happen, but not until next year. Meanwhile, Mayweather, perhaps the single most important entity in this odd drama, remained silent
Exec: Pacquiao-Mayweather talks true
Email Print Comments84 By Dan Rafael
ESPN.com
Archive
As pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao moves on to a probable Nov. 13 fight against Antonio Margarito -- now that Floyd Mayweather has said he is not interested in making boxing's biggest fight, at least this year -- there is still some unfinished business from the messiness of last week's cliffhanger: Were the Pacquiao and Mayweather camps negotiating the fight or not?
Top Rank's Bob Arum, Pacquiao's promoter, insists they were, using HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg as an intermediary.
The Mayweather camp said that is not true and that there were never any negotiations.
The man in the middle of the storm, Greenburg, remained silent even when pressed repeatedly to offer his version of events.
On Monday night, Greenburg finally did.
He took the Arum/Pacquiao side.
"Fights like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao are significant because of these fighters' ability to connect with sports fans around the world. It's unfortunate that it won't happen in 2010," Greenburg said in a statement. "I had been negotiating with a representative from each side since May 2nd, carefully trying to put the fight together. Hopefully, someday this fight will happen. Sports fans deserve it."
The date Greenburg mentioned was the day after Mayweather's resounding decision win against Shane Mosley.
Arum had said over and over during the past two weeks, beginning on a 3 a.m. ET July 17 conference call to announce that the exclusive window to negotiate with Mayweather had closed, that he was negotiating the fight with Al Haymon, Mayweather's adviser, with Greenburg as the go-between.
Arum said he would discuss deal points with Greenburg, who would then take them to Haymon and vice versa.
Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather's other adviser and the public voice because Haymon refuses to speak to the press, said a few days after Arum outlined how the talks went that there had never been any negotiations.
He released a statement a few days after Arum's teleconference that said, "Here are the facts. Al Haymon, (Golden Boy Promotions CEO) Richard Schaefer and myself speak to each other on a regular basis, and the truth is no negotiations have ever taken place, nor was there ever a deal agreed upon by Team Mayweather or Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13. Either Ross Greenburg or Bob Arum is not telling the truth, but history tells us who is lying."
Ellerbe was clearly taking a shot at Arum, whose history of playing fast and loose with the truth is legendary in boxing circles.
Schaefer, who has promoted Mayweather's past several fights, also denied the negotiations and said he stood behind Ellerbe's statement.
Arum was pleased that Greenburg supported his version of events and cut him slack for taking a week to say so publicly.
"He works for a major public company and he has to clear this sort of thing with his bosses," Arum told ESPN.com. "I understand that he had to get his statement cleared."
Arum was not so kind to Schaefer.
"The one you should all be taking to task is Schaefer for lying to the press," Arum said. "You don't do that. You can say 'no comment' or say nothing. Richard Schaefer owes an apology to the press, not to me, because I've written him off a long time ago. But now anything he says will be suspect. I don't feel vindicated by Ross' statement because that's what happened. I knew what happened because I know I lived through the negotiations. I knew what I said about them was absolutely truthful so I didn't give a damn who believed me. No skin off my back.
"Indeed, when I made the statement about the negotiations on the conference call, I wasn't looking for controversy. I was kind to Mayweather. But Mayweather is the boss on his side and when he says, 'jump,' you're supposed to ask, 'how high.' That's why none of them have any credibility. Schaefer and Haymon and Ellerbe, they cling to the Mayweather boat because that's the source of their riches. So the fact is that Ellerbe, who is not a bad guy, will do anything that Floyd asks, but Floyd is not quite a rational person. For Schaefer to be part of this drinking the Kool Aid is really pathetic. It's really sad. Doesn't he have any pride?"
Ellerbe was surprised to hear what Greenburg said, but told ESPN.com, "I stand behind my statement 100 percent. Obviously, the term negotiation needs to be defined to those parties who are making these comments. Calling to inquire about what Floyd is thinking about doing is not a negotiation. There was never any negotiation. I respect Ross but I am 100 percent sure there were no negotiations."
Schaefer, in Las Vegas promoting Saturday night's Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz lightweight championship fight on HBO PPV, once again backed Ellerbe.
"I think it's unfortunate that Ross made that statement," Schaefer told ESPN.com. "I fully stand behind the statement I made. I have not negotiated with Ross and I am not aware of any negotiations that have taken place.
"If Ross or Arum wants to go through a lie detector test, we can arrange that. I can only tell you I have regular contact with Al and Leonard and there were no negotiations going on. I don't know exactly what Ross is referring to or what he is talking about. But I have been very consistent. There were none going on. Arum should just get a life and stop attacking me on a nonstop basis. This is really childish."
Arum is now focused on finalizing the Pacquiao-Margarito fight, which if completed, will take place at a maximum weight of 150 pounds for the WBC's vacant junior middleweight title. If Pacquiao wins, he would extend his record of winning world titles to an eighth weight class. Pacquiao has won titles from flyweight to welterweight.
Arum said although he has deals in principle with Pacquiao and Margarito, there is no site yet, mainly because Margarito is not licensed in the United States following the hand-wrapping scandal that engulfed him before his fight with Shane Mosley in January 2009. Before the fight, illegal pads coated in a plaster-like substance were found in Margarito's hand wraps. His hands were re-wrapped and Mosley wound up knocking out Margarito, who later had his license revoked by the California State Athletic Commission. Javier Capetillo, Margarito's former trainer and the man who wrapped his hands, also had his license revoked.
With the revocation period up earlier this year, Margarito returned to win a fight in Mexico and recently applied for a license in Nevada, where Arum hopes to stage the fight. However, Nevada officials declined to rule on his application, directing him to first go back to California, which has yet to listen to his appeal.
"Frankly, my desire is to keep the fight in the United States," said Arum, who said there is interest from Abu Dhabi and Monterrey, Mexico, in hosting the fight. "Manny would like to fight in Mexico to save on the taxes. He saves 30 percent. But we have a number of states we are talking to that will listen to Margarito."
Arum said he and Margarito's attorney are hoping that Nevada will reconsider his application and give him a one-fight license to face Pacquiao in an HBO PPV fight that would be a boon economically to a struggling city.
"There's a lot of pressure on me to get it done in Las Vegas from everyone in town," Arum said. "The fight is important to the city. But I want it known that if it is not in Las Vegas, it's not because of Bob Arum. I live there and I feel the town needs this. It's not because of me if the fight is caused to go elsewhere."
Dan Rafael is ESPN.com's boxing writer
ESPN.com
Archive
As pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao moves on to a probable Nov. 13 fight against Antonio Margarito -- now that Floyd Mayweather has said he is not interested in making boxing's biggest fight, at least this year -- there is still some unfinished business from the messiness of last week's cliffhanger: Were the Pacquiao and Mayweather camps negotiating the fight or not?
Top Rank's Bob Arum, Pacquiao's promoter, insists they were, using HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg as an intermediary.
The Mayweather camp said that is not true and that there were never any negotiations.
The man in the middle of the storm, Greenburg, remained silent even when pressed repeatedly to offer his version of events.
On Monday night, Greenburg finally did.
He took the Arum/Pacquiao side.
"Fights like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao are significant because of these fighters' ability to connect with sports fans around the world. It's unfortunate that it won't happen in 2010," Greenburg said in a statement. "I had been negotiating with a representative from each side since May 2nd, carefully trying to put the fight together. Hopefully, someday this fight will happen. Sports fans deserve it."
The date Greenburg mentioned was the day after Mayweather's resounding decision win against Shane Mosley.
Arum had said over and over during the past two weeks, beginning on a 3 a.m. ET July 17 conference call to announce that the exclusive window to negotiate with Mayweather had closed, that he was negotiating the fight with Al Haymon, Mayweather's adviser, with Greenburg as the go-between.
Arum said he would discuss deal points with Greenburg, who would then take them to Haymon and vice versa.
Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather's other adviser and the public voice because Haymon refuses to speak to the press, said a few days after Arum outlined how the talks went that there had never been any negotiations.
He released a statement a few days after Arum's teleconference that said, "Here are the facts. Al Haymon, (Golden Boy Promotions CEO) Richard Schaefer and myself speak to each other on a regular basis, and the truth is no negotiations have ever taken place, nor was there ever a deal agreed upon by Team Mayweather or Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13. Either Ross Greenburg or Bob Arum is not telling the truth, but history tells us who is lying."
Ellerbe was clearly taking a shot at Arum, whose history of playing fast and loose with the truth is legendary in boxing circles.
Schaefer, who has promoted Mayweather's past several fights, also denied the negotiations and said he stood behind Ellerbe's statement.
Arum was pleased that Greenburg supported his version of events and cut him slack for taking a week to say so publicly.
"He works for a major public company and he has to clear this sort of thing with his bosses," Arum told ESPN.com. "I understand that he had to get his statement cleared."
Arum was not so kind to Schaefer.
"The one you should all be taking to task is Schaefer for lying to the press," Arum said. "You don't do that. You can say 'no comment' or say nothing. Richard Schaefer owes an apology to the press, not to me, because I've written him off a long time ago. But now anything he says will be suspect. I don't feel vindicated by Ross' statement because that's what happened. I knew what happened because I know I lived through the negotiations. I knew what I said about them was absolutely truthful so I didn't give a damn who believed me. No skin off my back.
"Indeed, when I made the statement about the negotiations on the conference call, I wasn't looking for controversy. I was kind to Mayweather. But Mayweather is the boss on his side and when he says, 'jump,' you're supposed to ask, 'how high.' That's why none of them have any credibility. Schaefer and Haymon and Ellerbe, they cling to the Mayweather boat because that's the source of their riches. So the fact is that Ellerbe, who is not a bad guy, will do anything that Floyd asks, but Floyd is not quite a rational person. For Schaefer to be part of this drinking the Kool Aid is really pathetic. It's really sad. Doesn't he have any pride?"
Ellerbe was surprised to hear what Greenburg said, but told ESPN.com, "I stand behind my statement 100 percent. Obviously, the term negotiation needs to be defined to those parties who are making these comments. Calling to inquire about what Floyd is thinking about doing is not a negotiation. There was never any negotiation. I respect Ross but I am 100 percent sure there were no negotiations."
Schaefer, in Las Vegas promoting Saturday night's Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz lightweight championship fight on HBO PPV, once again backed Ellerbe.
"I think it's unfortunate that Ross made that statement," Schaefer told ESPN.com. "I fully stand behind the statement I made. I have not negotiated with Ross and I am not aware of any negotiations that have taken place.
"If Ross or Arum wants to go through a lie detector test, we can arrange that. I can only tell you I have regular contact with Al and Leonard and there were no negotiations going on. I don't know exactly what Ross is referring to or what he is talking about. But I have been very consistent. There were none going on. Arum should just get a life and stop attacking me on a nonstop basis. This is really childish."
Arum is now focused on finalizing the Pacquiao-Margarito fight, which if completed, will take place at a maximum weight of 150 pounds for the WBC's vacant junior middleweight title. If Pacquiao wins, he would extend his record of winning world titles to an eighth weight class. Pacquiao has won titles from flyweight to welterweight.
Arum said although he has deals in principle with Pacquiao and Margarito, there is no site yet, mainly because Margarito is not licensed in the United States following the hand-wrapping scandal that engulfed him before his fight with Shane Mosley in January 2009. Before the fight, illegal pads coated in a plaster-like substance were found in Margarito's hand wraps. His hands were re-wrapped and Mosley wound up knocking out Margarito, who later had his license revoked by the California State Athletic Commission. Javier Capetillo, Margarito's former trainer and the man who wrapped his hands, also had his license revoked.
With the revocation period up earlier this year, Margarito returned to win a fight in Mexico and recently applied for a license in Nevada, where Arum hopes to stage the fight. However, Nevada officials declined to rule on his application, directing him to first go back to California, which has yet to listen to his appeal.
"Frankly, my desire is to keep the fight in the United States," said Arum, who said there is interest from Abu Dhabi and Monterrey, Mexico, in hosting the fight. "Manny would like to fight in Mexico to save on the taxes. He saves 30 percent. But we have a number of states we are talking to that will listen to Margarito."
Arum said he and Margarito's attorney are hoping that Nevada will reconsider his application and give him a one-fight license to face Pacquiao in an HBO PPV fight that would be a boon economically to a struggling city.
"There's a lot of pressure on me to get it done in Las Vegas from everyone in town," Arum said. "The fight is important to the city. But I want it known that if it is not in Las Vegas, it's not because of Bob Arum. I live there and I feel the town needs this. It's not because of me if the fight is caused to go elsewhere."
Dan Rafael is ESPN.com's boxing writer
Mayweather-Pacquiao talks: Sides still dispute existence
By Bob Velin, USA TODAY
HBO President Ross Greenburg disputed a claim by Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s adviser last week that there have been no negotiations for a proposed Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao mega-fight.
Leonard Ellerbe released a statement last Tuesday that said, "Here are the facts. Al Haymon (Mayweather manager), Richard Schaefer (Golden Boy CEO) and myself speak to each other on a regular basis, and the truth is no negotiations have ever taken place nor was there ever a deal agreed upon by Team Mayweather or Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13. Either Ross Greenburg or (Top Rank chairman) Bob Arum is not telling the truth, but history tells us who is lying."
Greenburg said in a statement on Monday that he has been negotiating since the day after Mayweather scored an impressive 12th-round TKO victory May 1 against Sugar Shane Mosley in Las Vegas.
PHOTO GALLERY: Floyd Mayweather Jr.
PHOTO GALLERY: Manny Pacquiao
"Fights like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao are significant because of these fighters' ability to connect with sports fans around the world. It's unfortunate that it won't happen in 2010," Greenburg's statement read. "I had been negotiating with a representative from each side since May 2, carefully trying to put the fight together.
"Hopefully, someday this fight will happen. Sports fans deserve it."
Schaefer, who is promoting this weekend's pay-per-view lightweight title rematch in Las Vegas between Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz, stood by his word, saying it was strange to hear Greenburg's statement.
"I have had no negotiations as it relates to this (Mayweather-Pacquiao) fight," he said. "I don't understand who Ross said they were negotiating with. They certainly have not been negotiating with me, I can tell you that."
Ellerbe, reached by phone, said, "This whole thing has gotten blown way out of proportion. I stand behind my statement 100%. Floyd Mayweather made it clear to everyone what his intentions were. He came up with a statement on June 2, and made it very clear what his intentions were. How can you have a negotiation when the principal himself says he's not even thinking about boxing at this particular time?"
Arum, meanwhile, said Greenburg's statement "comports exactly what happened.
"The guy who has a lot of answering to do is Mr. Schaefer. There's no excuse for that. You may equivocate, you may lie in your business, but you don't lie to the press. And that's what he did. And there was absolutely no reason for him to do that. He should have remained silent.
"And then to compound things, Oscar (De La Hoya), who went into detail about the negotiations four weeks ago, now says, 'well, I didn't mean it, there were no negotiations.' There's a particular sadness to all of this, that a guy like Mayweather can make people do these ridiculous things.
"It's so unnecessary. We tried to negotiate. I didn't put blame on anybody. As a matter of fact, I threw out lifelines giving reasons why (Mayweather) couldn't do the fight. Or he could've just said 'Hey, I had a fight in May and I don't want to fight until next year.' No problem.
All of this was a lot of nonsense. And it made everybody look bad."
HBO President Ross Greenburg disputed a claim by Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s adviser last week that there have been no negotiations for a proposed Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao mega-fight.
Leonard Ellerbe released a statement last Tuesday that said, "Here are the facts. Al Haymon (Mayweather manager), Richard Schaefer (Golden Boy CEO) and myself speak to each other on a regular basis, and the truth is no negotiations have ever taken place nor was there ever a deal agreed upon by Team Mayweather or Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13. Either Ross Greenburg or (Top Rank chairman) Bob Arum is not telling the truth, but history tells us who is lying."
Greenburg said in a statement on Monday that he has been negotiating since the day after Mayweather scored an impressive 12th-round TKO victory May 1 against Sugar Shane Mosley in Las Vegas.
PHOTO GALLERY: Floyd Mayweather Jr.
PHOTO GALLERY: Manny Pacquiao
"Fights like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao are significant because of these fighters' ability to connect with sports fans around the world. It's unfortunate that it won't happen in 2010," Greenburg's statement read. "I had been negotiating with a representative from each side since May 2, carefully trying to put the fight together.
"Hopefully, someday this fight will happen. Sports fans deserve it."
Schaefer, who is promoting this weekend's pay-per-view lightweight title rematch in Las Vegas between Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz, stood by his word, saying it was strange to hear Greenburg's statement.
"I have had no negotiations as it relates to this (Mayweather-Pacquiao) fight," he said. "I don't understand who Ross said they were negotiating with. They certainly have not been negotiating with me, I can tell you that."
Ellerbe, reached by phone, said, "This whole thing has gotten blown way out of proportion. I stand behind my statement 100%. Floyd Mayweather made it clear to everyone what his intentions were. He came up with a statement on June 2, and made it very clear what his intentions were. How can you have a negotiation when the principal himself says he's not even thinking about boxing at this particular time?"
Arum, meanwhile, said Greenburg's statement "comports exactly what happened.
"The guy who has a lot of answering to do is Mr. Schaefer. There's no excuse for that. You may equivocate, you may lie in your business, but you don't lie to the press. And that's what he did. And there was absolutely no reason for him to do that. He should have remained silent.
"And then to compound things, Oscar (De La Hoya), who went into detail about the negotiations four weeks ago, now says, 'well, I didn't mean it, there were no negotiations.' There's a particular sadness to all of this, that a guy like Mayweather can make people do these ridiculous things.
"It's so unnecessary. We tried to negotiate. I didn't put blame on anybody. As a matter of fact, I threw out lifelines giving reasons why (Mayweather) couldn't do the fight. Or he could've just said 'Hey, I had a fight in May and I don't want to fight until next year.' No problem.
All of this was a lot of nonsense. And it made everybody look bad."
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Floyd Jr. flaunts iPod more expensive than most cars, The Return of Montana and Rice, Team USA robbed by odd
Juan Manuel Marquez: Floyd Mayweather's Better Than Manny Pacquiao
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.
In Saturday's HBO pay per view televised main event, WBO and WBA lightweight (135 pounds) titlist Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KOs) will clash with Juan Diaz (35-3, 17 KOs) in a rematch of their Feburary 2009 Fight of the Year, which was won by Marquez via ninth-round knockout.
FanHouse caught up to Marquez during a recent press conference, where he called out WBO welterweight (147 pounds) champion Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs) and said that Pacquiao is afraid to face him.
Marquez has lost and drawn with Pacquiao, whom he said is not as good at Floyd Mayweather (41-0-25 KOs), a unanimous decision winner over Marquez. Marquez is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, and Pacquiao by Top Rank Promotions.
Read More: WBA WBO Golden Boy Promotions Boxing Video HBO FanHouse Exclusive Top Rank Promotions floyd+mayweather, juan+diaz, juan+diaz+juan+manuel+marquez, juan+manuel+marquez, Manny+Pacquiao
In Saturday's HBO pay per view televised main event, WBO and WBA lightweight (135 pounds) titlist Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KOs) will clash with Juan Diaz (35-3, 17 KOs) in a rematch of their Feburary 2009 Fight of the Year, which was won by Marquez via ninth-round knockout.
FanHouse caught up to Marquez during a recent press conference, where he called out WBO welterweight (147 pounds) champion Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs) and said that Pacquiao is afraid to face him.
Marquez has lost and drawn with Pacquiao, whom he said is not as good at Floyd Mayweather (41-0-25 KOs), a unanimous decision winner over Marquez. Marquez is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, and Pacquiao by Top Rank Promotions.
Read More: WBA WBO Golden Boy Promotions Boxing Video HBO FanHouse Exclusive Top Rank Promotions floyd+mayweather, juan+diaz, juan+diaz+juan+manuel+marquez, juan+manuel+marquez, Manny+Pacquiao
The Truth of Manny Pacquiao – Floyd Mayweather JR: The Bob Arum Deception
By Joe Wilson
One would think that trial and error is usually the best teacher. Even, if you are an architect, building a house or a carpenter, designing cabinets; without a blueprint or a design to follow, you are bound to make some mistakes. That is why it is important to follow the necessary steps to prevent making costly mistakes.
Bob Arum, Manny Pacquiao’s promoter has been promoting fights for many, many decades. If anyone should have the blueprint on putting together a fight, it should be him. Arum promoted some of the biggest fights in the 70’s and 80’s. He knows promoting, as good as most preachers know The Bible. This is how he gained all of his riches, and boy is he loaded.
I must admit he is the best at what he does. Arum has mastered the promoting game. Floyd “Money” Mayweather knows him better than anyone, because he was once promoted by him. Their departure was very bitter. And, what they both seem to have in common is—they are all about the buck. No kidding.
Arum knew just what to offer Floyd Mayweather, JR., to turn him off. He truly knows what offer Floyd would take, and what offer he would turn down. Remember, Arum knows Floyd very well. When Bob Arum is truly ready for “The Big Fight” to happen (Mayweather vs. Pacquiao), he knows what to do. This is what he does for a living. He is not quite ready for this match up.
Team Mayweather’s response was just the way he hoped it would be. First of all, he gives Floyd a deadline on negotiations. Floyd had just come off one of the biggest wins of his career in the Shane Mosley wipeout. And when we talk pay per view numbers, the dude is king… “Money” Mayweather has demonstrated time and time again that he “put butts in seats,” when it comes to selling a fight.
Arum knows as long as he can keep “Money” Mayweather away from Manny Pacquiao, his stock will continue to rise. Right now the only fighter that poses a real threat to Pacquiao is “Money” Mayweather. Arum knows that if, and when that fight happens, Floyd could end up beating Manny so bad, that his stocks will plummet over night. Arum is not ready for that to happen. Millions of dollars on top of millions would go down the drain. That would be Arum’s worst nightmare.
Okay, know that the chess game favorites Arum, he can place Manny Pacquiao in fights that he can win and also have the pleasure of promoting both fighters. Remember, he promotes Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito, whose boxing privileges will probably be re-granted in the weeks to come. He has already made it known that Pacquiao will be fighting one of these guys on November 2010. These two fighters will allow Arum to maximize the most profit with very little risk. Bob Arum is a lot smarter than we give him credit for. He has this whole thing all planned out and it’s going just as planned.
With Team Mayweather watching from the sidelines, Arum now has both Jerry Jones and his new Cowboy Stadium in Texas, and MGM Casino of Las Vegas as the home of Pacquiao’s next fights. The highest bidder of the two will probably get his next bout. As Jim Lampley would say “That’s some colorful stuff.”
After the dominating performance “Money” Mayweather displayed over Shane Mosley, tell me what promoter would want to jeopardize the legacy of his fighter, when he can gain more by fighting this guy on a later date? The writing was on the wall when, I heard from several sources, that Arum did not contact Team Mayweather at all during negotiations. Instead all negotiations went through the president of HBO Sports Ross Greenburg.
According to Arum, weeks ago negotiations were going well with Team Mayweather, however, now we know that was just speculations. The results we the boxing fans have received from the news of “The Big Fight” have gone just the way Bob Arum planned it. He really wants no parts of “Money” Mayweather right now. Too early, just not part of the plan right now. Arum will deal with “Money” Mayweather when the time is right for him, not the fighters or the fans.
With old-father time knocking at the door, maybe Arum is about to make his own departure in the sport of boxing and have two to three fights in mind for Manny Pacquiao with “Money” Mayweather being the last on the list. Once again I will repeat myself and say “If Bob Arum wanted “The Big Fight,” to take place now, he knows just the kind of offer to present to Floyd, with the agreement of Manny and the fight would be on—just that simple!
Arum knew just what would tick “Money” Mayweather off, and it did. Floyd felt so disrespected by Arum, he refused to say anything. It silenced him! That was wisdom at its best. Sometimes the best answer is to “say nothing.” Bob knew if he pissed of Team Mayweather, it would buy him more time to put together the other fights he had in mind before “The Big Fight.” With Bob Arum, its nothing personal against the fans, “it’s all about the Benjamins.”
I guess if you look at things from a seasoned promoters prospective, whom seen his younger days as a promoter “if it don’t make big money, it don’t make sense.” Arum knows that the biggest fight to be made in boxing is Floyd and Manny. Worst case scenario, even if both of these fighters should lose their very next fight, they still would be a big attraction facing each other, fans would still buy that fight, so Bob’s Arums point is—what’s the rush?
One would think that trial and error is usually the best teacher. Even, if you are an architect, building a house or a carpenter, designing cabinets; without a blueprint or a design to follow, you are bound to make some mistakes. That is why it is important to follow the necessary steps to prevent making costly mistakes.
Bob Arum, Manny Pacquiao’s promoter has been promoting fights for many, many decades. If anyone should have the blueprint on putting together a fight, it should be him. Arum promoted some of the biggest fights in the 70’s and 80’s. He knows promoting, as good as most preachers know The Bible. This is how he gained all of his riches, and boy is he loaded.
I must admit he is the best at what he does. Arum has mastered the promoting game. Floyd “Money” Mayweather knows him better than anyone, because he was once promoted by him. Their departure was very bitter. And, what they both seem to have in common is—they are all about the buck. No kidding.
Arum knew just what to offer Floyd Mayweather, JR., to turn him off. He truly knows what offer Floyd would take, and what offer he would turn down. Remember, Arum knows Floyd very well. When Bob Arum is truly ready for “The Big Fight” to happen (Mayweather vs. Pacquiao), he knows what to do. This is what he does for a living. He is not quite ready for this match up.
Team Mayweather’s response was just the way he hoped it would be. First of all, he gives Floyd a deadline on negotiations. Floyd had just come off one of the biggest wins of his career in the Shane Mosley wipeout. And when we talk pay per view numbers, the dude is king… “Money” Mayweather has demonstrated time and time again that he “put butts in seats,” when it comes to selling a fight.
Arum knows as long as he can keep “Money” Mayweather away from Manny Pacquiao, his stock will continue to rise. Right now the only fighter that poses a real threat to Pacquiao is “Money” Mayweather. Arum knows that if, and when that fight happens, Floyd could end up beating Manny so bad, that his stocks will plummet over night. Arum is not ready for that to happen. Millions of dollars on top of millions would go down the drain. That would be Arum’s worst nightmare.
Okay, know that the chess game favorites Arum, he can place Manny Pacquiao in fights that he can win and also have the pleasure of promoting both fighters. Remember, he promotes Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito, whose boxing privileges will probably be re-granted in the weeks to come. He has already made it known that Pacquiao will be fighting one of these guys on November 2010. These two fighters will allow Arum to maximize the most profit with very little risk. Bob Arum is a lot smarter than we give him credit for. He has this whole thing all planned out and it’s going just as planned.
With Team Mayweather watching from the sidelines, Arum now has both Jerry Jones and his new Cowboy Stadium in Texas, and MGM Casino of Las Vegas as the home of Pacquiao’s next fights. The highest bidder of the two will probably get his next bout. As Jim Lampley would say “That’s some colorful stuff.”
After the dominating performance “Money” Mayweather displayed over Shane Mosley, tell me what promoter would want to jeopardize the legacy of his fighter, when he can gain more by fighting this guy on a later date? The writing was on the wall when, I heard from several sources, that Arum did not contact Team Mayweather at all during negotiations. Instead all negotiations went through the president of HBO Sports Ross Greenburg.
According to Arum, weeks ago negotiations were going well with Team Mayweather, however, now we know that was just speculations. The results we the boxing fans have received from the news of “The Big Fight” have gone just the way Bob Arum planned it. He really wants no parts of “Money” Mayweather right now. Too early, just not part of the plan right now. Arum will deal with “Money” Mayweather when the time is right for him, not the fighters or the fans.
With old-father time knocking at the door, maybe Arum is about to make his own departure in the sport of boxing and have two to three fights in mind for Manny Pacquiao with “Money” Mayweather being the last on the list. Once again I will repeat myself and say “If Bob Arum wanted “The Big Fight,” to take place now, he knows just the kind of offer to present to Floyd, with the agreement of Manny and the fight would be on—just that simple!
Arum knew just what would tick “Money” Mayweather off, and it did. Floyd felt so disrespected by Arum, he refused to say anything. It silenced him! That was wisdom at its best. Sometimes the best answer is to “say nothing.” Bob knew if he pissed of Team Mayweather, it would buy him more time to put together the other fights he had in mind before “The Big Fight.” With Bob Arum, its nothing personal against the fans, “it’s all about the Benjamins.”
I guess if you look at things from a seasoned promoters prospective, whom seen his younger days as a promoter “if it don’t make big money, it don’t make sense.” Arum knows that the biggest fight to be made in boxing is Floyd and Manny. Worst case scenario, even if both of these fighters should lose their very next fight, they still would be a big attraction facing each other, fans would still buy that fight, so Bob’s Arums point is—what’s the rush?
Mayweather to fight Hatton?
By Matt Stein: There are a number of rumors circulating around that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will, instead of fighting Manny Pacquiao, will be taking on Ricky Hatton next in a rematch of their December 2007 bout. It makes perfect sense, because with Pacquiao making what appears to be a huge blunder by fighting Antonio Margarito in November, Mayweather will be able to line up a fight with Hatton and bring in another 1.4 million pay per view buys. Hatton has resisted making a comeback for the past year since being starched in the 2nd round by Pacquiao last May. However, Hatton has said that he would like to comeback and fight Mayweather if he were interested.
I think this would be the perfect fight for Mayweather to take. He could have it staged in England, where Mayweather is well thought of by the fans, and it would do huge PPV numbers. As long as Mayweather could get a piece of the UK PPV revenue, I think he might do it. If Mayweather really wants to put himself in a strong position for negotiations with Pacquiao in early 2011, fighting Hatton in a rematch would be the way to go. Hatton, of course, would have to burn off 40 to 50 pounds of fat to get down to a decent fighting weight, but I think he could do it for a fight with Mayweather.
Hatton was doing a reasonable job against Mayweather for the first six rounds of the fight before he started having problems with the referee not allowing him to work on the inside. If Hatton can get Mayweather in England, with an English referee and 30,000 Hatton fans screaming encouragement for him, I think he could give Mayweather a reason run for the money. I don’t know if he could win, but if he’s allowed to work on the inside this time, I think he might be problems for Mayweather.
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I think this would be the perfect fight for Mayweather to take. He could have it staged in England, where Mayweather is well thought of by the fans, and it would do huge PPV numbers. As long as Mayweather could get a piece of the UK PPV revenue, I think he might do it. If Mayweather really wants to put himself in a strong position for negotiations with Pacquiao in early 2011, fighting Hatton in a rematch would be the way to go. Hatton, of course, would have to burn off 40 to 50 pounds of fat to get down to a decent fighting weight, but I think he could do it for a fight with Mayweather.
Hatton was doing a reasonable job against Mayweather for the first six rounds of the fight before he started having problems with the referee not allowing him to work on the inside. If Hatton can get Mayweather in England, with an English referee and 30,000 Hatton fans screaming encouragement for him, I think he could give Mayweather a reason run for the money. I don’t know if he could win, but if he’s allowed to work on the inside this time, I think he might be problems for Mayweather.
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Boxing News: Did Shane Mosley Shake Floyd Mayweather’s Confidence?
Boxing News: Did Shane Mosley Shake Floyd Mayweather’s Confidence? You really have to wonder how Floyd Mayweather Jr. could leave a guaranteed $30+ million on the table by not signing to fight Manny Pacquiao. While Mayweather dominated Shane Mosley in their May 2010 bout Floyd showed that his chin could be more porcelain than granite after a Mosley right hand almost crumpled him. Granted, any fighter can be stunned by the right type of shot but after 25+ years boxing Floyd’s punch resistance may not be what it once was. Floyd is one of the more self-actualized boxers in the sport that is fully aware of his strengths and limitations.
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Boxing Picks Analysis: Floyd wasn’t just stunned by Mosley’s right hand momentarily, he was practically out on his feet for nearly two rounds. It could be that Mayweather has been aware that he doesn’t won the best set of whiskers, which is why he adopted such a risk-free boxing style. Remember that nobody really knew that Roy Jones Jr. was china-chinned until he started getting caught late in his career.
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Punch resistance is also something that fades over time. A human melon can only take so much trauma and as slick as Floyd Mayweather is he has taken some shots throughout sparring and bouts against world-class competition. The “Pretty Boy” displays a confident demeanor but that bomb he absorbed from Mosley might have robbed him of some bravado deep down.
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Boxing Picks Analysis: Floyd wasn’t just stunned by Mosley’s right hand momentarily, he was practically out on his feet for nearly two rounds. It could be that Mayweather has been aware that he doesn’t won the best set of whiskers, which is why he adopted such a risk-free boxing style. Remember that nobody really knew that Roy Jones Jr. was china-chinned until he started getting caught late in his career.
Get the latest boxing news on all the top fights including the Tavoris Cloud vs Glen Johnson title fight on Augutst 7th, 2010. If your looking for online boxing news from the top boxing experts and analysts, visit OnlineSportsHandicapping.com daily!
Punch resistance is also something that fades over time. A human melon can only take so much trauma and as slick as Floyd Mayweather is he has taken some shots throughout sparring and bouts against world-class competition. The “Pretty Boy” displays a confident demeanor but that bomb he absorbed from Mosley might have robbed him of some bravado deep down.
Unload on the bookies Boxing Betting with our winning Fight Picks at BetUS.com and receive more bang for your buck with up to 145% in BONUSES!
Pacquiao, Mayweather fight nixed again
Las Vegas, NV - Manny Pacquiao will fight on November 13, 2010 after all...just not against the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Instead, the title holder in seven different weight divisions will face, according to multiple sources, the disgraced Antonio Margarito in a bout that has yet to be given a destination.
Margarito (37-8-0) and his trainer, Javier Capetillo, had their boxing licence suspended by the California State Athletic Commission after a substance was found inside the boxer’s gloves prior to a fight against “Sugar” Shane Mosley in January 2009.
The 32-year-old Margarito lost the fight and his WBA welterweight title when Mosley scored a technical knockout 43 seconds into the ninth round. He bested Roberto Garcia in a unanimous decision this past May in his native Mexico but has not been cleared to fight in the United States.
The decision to fight Margarito comes after another attempt to sign a deal with Mayweather fell by the wayside.
The Mayweather camp did not respond to Bob Arum’s self-imposed midnight (pt) cutoff last week, and Pacquiao’s agent opted to put the proposed mega-fight on the back burner yet again.
Several months ago, Pacquiao (51-3-2) refused to submit random blood tests within 30 days prior to a proposed fight date with Mayweather. Arum, though, said that hurdle has been crossed in the newest negotiations.
Nevertheless, the 31-year-old Filipino, who recently became a congressman in his native country, will look for his 13th straight victory in November.
Instead, the title holder in seven different weight divisions will face, according to multiple sources, the disgraced Antonio Margarito in a bout that has yet to be given a destination.
Margarito (37-8-0) and his trainer, Javier Capetillo, had their boxing licence suspended by the California State Athletic Commission after a substance was found inside the boxer’s gloves prior to a fight against “Sugar” Shane Mosley in January 2009.
The 32-year-old Margarito lost the fight and his WBA welterweight title when Mosley scored a technical knockout 43 seconds into the ninth round. He bested Roberto Garcia in a unanimous decision this past May in his native Mexico but has not been cleared to fight in the United States.
The decision to fight Margarito comes after another attempt to sign a deal with Mayweather fell by the wayside.
The Mayweather camp did not respond to Bob Arum’s self-imposed midnight (pt) cutoff last week, and Pacquiao’s agent opted to put the proposed mega-fight on the back burner yet again.
Several months ago, Pacquiao (51-3-2) refused to submit random blood tests within 30 days prior to a proposed fight date with Mayweather. Arum, though, said that hurdle has been crossed in the newest negotiations.
Nevertheless, the 31-year-old Filipino, who recently became a congressman in his native country, will look for his 13th straight victory in November.
Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather: Truth on Why it Didn’t Happen
Opinion by Alex Groberman
(1 Day Ago) in Sports / Manny Pacquiao
At times during the rollercoaster that is the greatest fight to never happen, you have to take a step back and look at the fans of both Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
On Mayweather’s side, originally, you had true boxing aficionados who were certain that his technical know-how and defensive ability would give him the edge over his opponent.
On Pacquiao’s side, originally, you had true boxing aficionados who were certain that his speed and knockout ability would give him the edge over his opponent.
The two groups mentioned above, have turned into “Floydiots” and “Pactards.”
Now it’s important to note, the reason that a once-fascinating boxing debate devolved into a third-grade shouting match isn’t because the original fans got dumber, it’s because a bunch of dumb fans got added into the mix.
In Mayweather’s new corner you have a group of people who don’t know a boxing glove from a kitchen mitten. That, however, does not stop them from arguing for their guy because they don’t like how pro-Pacquiao the media has come.
Then, you have Pacquiao’s merry new band of supporters. They never followed boxing before the Filipino superstar blew up, know little about the sport but have a lot of national pride. They belittle Mayweather’s track record, and constantly accuse him of ducking.
The problem with both sides is that they legitimately ruin the debate for people who actually know what they are talking about.
First and foremost, it’s important to understand how money splits in boxing occur. They are not based on perceived talent, or on who you think is the better person. Rather, they are based on the marketability and selling power of the fighters in the match.
For some reason, both “Floydiots” and “Pactards” have shown a complete inability to comprehend several factors involved in the money-split for this fight. They seem to think it’s cut-and-dry that the guy who isn’t their new favorite boxer in the world should accept what their new favorite boxer in the world is offering. It’s not that simple.
First of all, Mayweather has more than proven with his last two fights that he is a bigger draw than Pacquiao is. Again, for all the international hoopla, for all the attention that the Filipino sensation gets on nifty Pacland message boards, Mayweather is the bigger draw. This is not opinion, this is undeniable truth. A fact.
With that said, the reason that Mayweather-Pacquiao has the potential to do such huge numbers is not strictly because of Mayweather. Rather, it is the combination of the two arguably best pound for pound boxers coming together to decide who is better once and for all that is the draw. Thus, while Mayweather may be the traditionally bigger draw and may usually get more of the fight money, you can see why Pacquiao’s side would object to this idea now.
Clearly, the money division is not the black-and-white situation that fans try to make it out to be in the comments sections of news articles.
Besides the money, though, there is a bigger problem. That problem’s name is Bob Arum.
Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, has a long history of shady business dealings and telling various untruths to get his way. He, like the majority of other promoters in the boxing industry is someone who you should listen to for the same reason you listen to your favorite comedian – entertain purposes. He is not to be believed, and by no means trusted for anything he says.
Anyone that knows anything about boxing, knows that if Arum says that “A” and “B” happened, you can expect that “C” and “D” really happened.
I guess Pacquiao’s new fans didn’t get that memo, though.
Arum has been telling anyone who will listen that he has been negotiating with Mayweather’s people. Mayweather’s corner, however, denies the claims.
Here is what really happened: Arum has been using HBO Sports president, Ross Greenburg, as the go-between to pass messages along to Mayweather’s people for the fight. Now, we have no idea what these terms were, nor do we know what Arum’s intentions (mind you, his history with the Mayweathers isn’t great) were when he passed the terms along. The reason we don’t know about the terms, by the way, is because Arum refused to specify them.
Then, Greenburg would go and give those terms to Mayweather’s people. According to Arum, said people never responded to his proposals. Now, unlike with the terms of the fight that he passed along, the famed promoter had no problem telling the media that he had in fact passed a proposal along to the Mayweather camp. This, of course, went directly against the “we won’t deal through the media” agreement that the two corners agreed to after fight discussions broke down last time.
Now, I want fans to be clear on this: Arum has admitted that he did not personally contact Mayweather’s personal advisors or the President of Golden Boy Promotions. Again, this is not opinion, this is not hearsay, this is a proven fact. Arum’s idea of direct negotiations, strangely enough, did not actually involve the party he was trying to negotiate with.
Arum never expected this fight to happen in 2010. He was just playing the media, gullable fans and anyone with any vested interest in the fight for fools. He simply wanted good press for himself and his fighter at the expense of Mayweather, and this is how he chose to get it.
As soon as the laughable deadline that Arum set up for Mayweather to agree to his new terms expired, he issued a statement that he understood why Mayweather would not want to fight this year. That Mayweather’s uncle was having legal problems, and that as a result he was probably in no mood to fight.
Really? So why set the deadline in the first place?
For the sake of PR.
Then, with his mission of creating a media storm accomplished, Arum moved on to create a fight for November 13 between Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito, another fighter from his Top Rank group.
So for those keeping score at home it’s: Bob Arum 1 Boxing Fans 0.
Congratulations gullible fans, you’ve all just been punk’d. Arum lured you all in with a lot of dramatics about a Pacquiao-Mayweather bout this year, only substitute it with a filler fight at the last second.
Not that watching the Filipino sensation pound on an unlicensed known cheater isn’t great though…
The worst part of it is that if you look around, everyone fell for it. Mayweather’s fans (all three of them active on the internet) are screaming to high heaven that Pacquiao is at fault for the fight not happening. Pacquiao’s fans are ranting and raving about Mayweather being a “ducker” and a chicken.
And all is happening while the main culprit, Arum, grins and shoves money into his pockets, laughing all the way to the bank because the fans don’t even realize they have been duped.
Hey, maybe we are all “Floydiots” and “Pactards” after all
(1 Day Ago) in Sports / Manny Pacquiao
At times during the rollercoaster that is the greatest fight to never happen, you have to take a step back and look at the fans of both Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
On Mayweather’s side, originally, you had true boxing aficionados who were certain that his technical know-how and defensive ability would give him the edge over his opponent.
On Pacquiao’s side, originally, you had true boxing aficionados who were certain that his speed and knockout ability would give him the edge over his opponent.
The two groups mentioned above, have turned into “Floydiots” and “Pactards.”
Now it’s important to note, the reason that a once-fascinating boxing debate devolved into a third-grade shouting match isn’t because the original fans got dumber, it’s because a bunch of dumb fans got added into the mix.
In Mayweather’s new corner you have a group of people who don’t know a boxing glove from a kitchen mitten. That, however, does not stop them from arguing for their guy because they don’t like how pro-Pacquiao the media has come.
Then, you have Pacquiao’s merry new band of supporters. They never followed boxing before the Filipino superstar blew up, know little about the sport but have a lot of national pride. They belittle Mayweather’s track record, and constantly accuse him of ducking.
The problem with both sides is that they legitimately ruin the debate for people who actually know what they are talking about.
First and foremost, it’s important to understand how money splits in boxing occur. They are not based on perceived talent, or on who you think is the better person. Rather, they are based on the marketability and selling power of the fighters in the match.
For some reason, both “Floydiots” and “Pactards” have shown a complete inability to comprehend several factors involved in the money-split for this fight. They seem to think it’s cut-and-dry that the guy who isn’t their new favorite boxer in the world should accept what their new favorite boxer in the world is offering. It’s not that simple.
First of all, Mayweather has more than proven with his last two fights that he is a bigger draw than Pacquiao is. Again, for all the international hoopla, for all the attention that the Filipino sensation gets on nifty Pacland message boards, Mayweather is the bigger draw. This is not opinion, this is undeniable truth. A fact.
With that said, the reason that Mayweather-Pacquiao has the potential to do such huge numbers is not strictly because of Mayweather. Rather, it is the combination of the two arguably best pound for pound boxers coming together to decide who is better once and for all that is the draw. Thus, while Mayweather may be the traditionally bigger draw and may usually get more of the fight money, you can see why Pacquiao’s side would object to this idea now.
Clearly, the money division is not the black-and-white situation that fans try to make it out to be in the comments sections of news articles.
Besides the money, though, there is a bigger problem. That problem’s name is Bob Arum.
Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, has a long history of shady business dealings and telling various untruths to get his way. He, like the majority of other promoters in the boxing industry is someone who you should listen to for the same reason you listen to your favorite comedian – entertain purposes. He is not to be believed, and by no means trusted for anything he says.
Anyone that knows anything about boxing, knows that if Arum says that “A” and “B” happened, you can expect that “C” and “D” really happened.
I guess Pacquiao’s new fans didn’t get that memo, though.
Arum has been telling anyone who will listen that he has been negotiating with Mayweather’s people. Mayweather’s corner, however, denies the claims.
Here is what really happened: Arum has been using HBO Sports president, Ross Greenburg, as the go-between to pass messages along to Mayweather’s people for the fight. Now, we have no idea what these terms were, nor do we know what Arum’s intentions (mind you, his history with the Mayweathers isn’t great) were when he passed the terms along. The reason we don’t know about the terms, by the way, is because Arum refused to specify them.
Then, Greenburg would go and give those terms to Mayweather’s people. According to Arum, said people never responded to his proposals. Now, unlike with the terms of the fight that he passed along, the famed promoter had no problem telling the media that he had in fact passed a proposal along to the Mayweather camp. This, of course, went directly against the “we won’t deal through the media” agreement that the two corners agreed to after fight discussions broke down last time.
Now, I want fans to be clear on this: Arum has admitted that he did not personally contact Mayweather’s personal advisors or the President of Golden Boy Promotions. Again, this is not opinion, this is not hearsay, this is a proven fact. Arum’s idea of direct negotiations, strangely enough, did not actually involve the party he was trying to negotiate with.
Arum never expected this fight to happen in 2010. He was just playing the media, gullable fans and anyone with any vested interest in the fight for fools. He simply wanted good press for himself and his fighter at the expense of Mayweather, and this is how he chose to get it.
As soon as the laughable deadline that Arum set up for Mayweather to agree to his new terms expired, he issued a statement that he understood why Mayweather would not want to fight this year. That Mayweather’s uncle was having legal problems, and that as a result he was probably in no mood to fight.
Really? So why set the deadline in the first place?
For the sake of PR.
Then, with his mission of creating a media storm accomplished, Arum moved on to create a fight for November 13 between Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito, another fighter from his Top Rank group.
So for those keeping score at home it’s: Bob Arum 1 Boxing Fans 0.
Congratulations gullible fans, you’ve all just been punk’d. Arum lured you all in with a lot of dramatics about a Pacquiao-Mayweather bout this year, only substitute it with a filler fight at the last second.
Not that watching the Filipino sensation pound on an unlicensed known cheater isn’t great though…
The worst part of it is that if you look around, everyone fell for it. Mayweather’s fans (all three of them active on the internet) are screaming to high heaven that Pacquiao is at fault for the fight not happening. Pacquiao’s fans are ranting and raving about Mayweather being a “ducker” and a chicken.
And all is happening while the main culprit, Arum, grins and shoves money into his pockets, laughing all the way to the bank because the fans don’t even realize they have been duped.
Hey, maybe we are all “Floydiots” and “Pactards” after all
Pacquiao to fight Margarito not Mayweather
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Reads: 106 | Comments: 0 | 8200
Bob Arum appears to be moving ahead afterthe Floyd Mayweather Jr. bout once again failed to materialise. The promoter is lining up a fight between Mexican-American boxer Antonio Margarito against Phillipine superstar Manny Pacquiao to take place in the United States.
It should be happening in either Las Vegas or a return to the Cowboys Stadium outside Dallas where Pacquiao fought last time out. If Margarito can't get a license it will go to Monterrey, Mexico.
According to Yahoo! Sports and Sports Illustrated the bout will take place on November 13 with Arum promoting on behalf of both.
The belt being contested is the vacant WBC super-welterweight title.
Margarito is a former world welterweight champion who had his boxing license revoked in 2009 after the California State Athletic Commission found out that he tried to put plaster-caked inserts inside his gloves before the Shane Mosley fight.
He is now is seeking a Nevada one-fight exemption.
Margarito got a decision against Roberto Garcia in 10 rounds to capture the vacant WBC International Light Middleweight title during his last fight in May. He was by all accounts unimpressive.
If he fights like that against Pacquiao the words "last fight" might well have a whole new meaning for him.
This now seems to exclude the possible rematch against Miguel Ángel Cotto for the WBA Super Welterweight title.
Reads: 106 | Comments: 0 | 8200
Bob Arum appears to be moving ahead afterthe Floyd Mayweather Jr. bout once again failed to materialise. The promoter is lining up a fight between Mexican-American boxer Antonio Margarito against Phillipine superstar Manny Pacquiao to take place in the United States.
It should be happening in either Las Vegas or a return to the Cowboys Stadium outside Dallas where Pacquiao fought last time out. If Margarito can't get a license it will go to Monterrey, Mexico.
According to Yahoo! Sports and Sports Illustrated the bout will take place on November 13 with Arum promoting on behalf of both.
The belt being contested is the vacant WBC super-welterweight title.
Margarito is a former world welterweight champion who had his boxing license revoked in 2009 after the California State Athletic Commission found out that he tried to put plaster-caked inserts inside his gloves before the Shane Mosley fight.
He is now is seeking a Nevada one-fight exemption.
Margarito got a decision against Roberto Garcia in 10 rounds to capture the vacant WBC International Light Middleweight title during his last fight in May. He was by all accounts unimpressive.
If he fights like that against Pacquiao the words "last fight" might well have a whole new meaning for him.
This now seems to exclude the possible rematch against Miguel Ángel Cotto for the WBA Super Welterweight title.
Mayweather/Pacquiao: Over before it started?
As the world of boxing shifts its collective attention to a now pending showdown between Filipino Manny Pacquiao and Mexican Antonio Margarito, most can't help but wonder how - for a second time - the powers-that-be failed to materialize the fight we all want to see.
After assessing the various details involved, South Florida's very own fight aficionado, Vivek Wallace, of Eastside Boxing, 8CountNews, and The Examiner speaks on why he feels the fight fell apart, and why it's time for us all to simply move on.
(Vivek Wallace can be reached at vivexemail@yahoo.com, Facebook, Youtube (VIVEK1251), Twitter (VIVEK747), and Myspace).
Mayweather/Pacquiao: From 'Best' to 'Next'
More About: Boxing · Manny Pacquiao · Floyd Mayweather Jr. · Goldenboy Promotions · HBO · Philippines · Bob Arum · Freddie Roach · Vivek Wallace · Leonard Ellerbe · Top Rank
After assessing the various details involved, South Florida's very own fight aficionado, Vivek Wallace, of Eastside Boxing, 8CountNews, and The Examiner speaks on why he feels the fight fell apart, and why it's time for us all to simply move on.
(Vivek Wallace can be reached at vivexemail@yahoo.com, Facebook, Youtube (VIVEK1251), Twitter (VIVEK747), and Myspace).
Mayweather/Pacquiao: From 'Best' to 'Next'
More About: Boxing · Manny Pacquiao · Floyd Mayweather Jr. · Goldenboy Promotions · HBO · Philippines · Bob Arum · Freddie Roach · Vivek Wallace · Leonard Ellerbe · Top Rank
Floyd Mayweather’s Hideout
By HANNAH KARP
Las Vegas
Confused, exhausted and estranged from his father, Floyd Mayweather Jr. announced his retirement from professional boxing last summer and retreated into seclusion.
The undefeated fighter packed up his six world-championship belts and 600 pairs of shoes and moved into a home he had begun secretly building after six months earlier. Though he’s in a Las Vegas gated community and is friendly with some neighbors, Mr. Mayweather kept the address a secret from colleagues, most of his friends and even some family members. Roger Mayweather, the fighter’s uncle and trainer, was driven over to the home for the first time last month and says he couldn’t find the place if he tried.
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Mr. Mayweather Jr.’s hideout is a 22,000-square-foot, five-bedroom, seven-bath custom-built home on a golf course created with most every luxury imaginable—plus a few more. Ceilings over 24 feet high drip with crystal chandeliers and walls are covered in materials like red silk and textured glass. The movie theater is two-stories high and touch-screen video games are affixed to the kitchen counter.
“I needed a chance to get to know myself,” said Mr. Mayweather, 32, sitting last week in his home’s 600-square-foot walk-in closet.
After a year of reflection, Mr. Mayweather said he’s ready to return to the ring. His comeback fight against Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez was originally slated for Saturday, but was rescheduled for September after Mr. Mayweather injured a rib. He said he’s glad for the extra time with his kids during summer vacation.
Soft spoken, Mr. Mayweather is fastidious, asking visitors to remove their shoes at the door and constantly straightening furniture and fluffing pillows. Last week he watched his four kids scramble around the house sucking on blue popsicles, shooting pool and practicing dance moves. They rode the elevator, played videogames and watched sitcoms in the theater while snacking from tall jars of jelly beans, pretzels and Hot Tamales.
“I never saw my daddy sit at the house all day with me,” said Mr. Mayweather. “I’m trying to break the cycle.”
Born and raised in a tough neighborhood in Grand Rapids, Mich., Mr. Mayweather grew up sharing a bedroom with six siblings and said he often went for days without electricity. But “I had bigger and better plans,” he said. He was taken under his uncle’s wing when his father was imprisoned on drug-trafficking charges in 1994.
As his career took off, Mr. Mayweather cultivated a larger-than-life public persona, throwing money around and traveling with a large entourage. In his last year of fighting Mr. Mayweather earned $50 million, making him the second-highest earning athlete in 2007 behind Tiger Woods.
Despite his success Mr. Mayweather said he felt increasingly overwhelmed. He said that he and his father had grown so far apart that last year Mr. Mayweather Sr., now a well-respected trainer, was planning to train his son’s opponent Oscar de la Hoya. Meanwhile Mr. Mayweather’s need for a retreat from the spotlight was growing: his Las Vegas home was filled with friends stopping by and hanging out, and his desire for privacy intensified after $7 million worth of jewelry was stolen from his home last year.
At his new home over the past year Mr. Mayweather said he’s learned more about who he is outside the ring (not as patient or calm as he is inside it) and what he wants out of life: to see his children graduate and to give back more to communities like the one he grew up in. (He started giving out sandwiches in downtown Las Vegas and is planning to build a homeless shelter there.)
Friends say Mr. Mayweather’s home reflects a newfound maturity. The undisclosed location has kept hangers-on away and the abundance of flowers, ferns and trees throughout the house evoke a sense of peace.
The hidden 50-square-foot kitchen pantry stores granola and Nutri-Grain bars, reflecting Mr. Mayweather’s recent vow to start eating healthier foods, like turkey bacon. Another sign of restraint: He decided against building a basketball court because he can play at a neighbor’s instead. “Who’s gonna tell me no? I’m a likable guy,” he joked.
The Home Front
Private Properties: Martial-Arts Circuit Mogul Buys Estate Relative Values: Fresh Foraging But the boxer needs to keep generating big bucks to support his lifestyle. He gambles on sports, blackjack and craps, enjoys being able to eat “five-star meals 24 hours a day” and loves nice clothes, travel, cars (including two Rolls Royces, a Maybach and a $20,000 golf cart). “We all have to pay the IRS,” he said.
His home’s wine cellar is loaded with Moët & Chandon. Three Swarovski crystal globes dangle over the hardwood staircase, and a yellow Lamborghini is parked outside. Though he wasn’t looking for brand names, “somehow he just ended up picking out the most expensive things,” says his real-estate agent, Tanasha Pettigrew, who helped him decorate.
Mr. Mayweather declined to say how much he spent building the home, but brokers estimate its value at about $9 million. Comparable custom homes for sale in the area include one for $7.5 million and another for $5 million; home prices in the immediate area have fallen more than 40% over the past year.
Two months ago Mr. Mayweather and his father agreed to talk for the first time in nine years. Since then, Mr. Mayweather Sr., who also lives in Las Vegas, has been visiting the house several times a week, challenging his son to push-up and pull-up contests.
“I always planned on making my son a champion anyway,” says Mr. Mayweather Sr., who adds he can’t get over his son’s master bedroom, with its wet bar, fireplace, espresso machine and balcony with a remote-control misting system. “But I never thought he’d be living in a place like this.”
Write to Hannah Karp at Hannah.Karp@wsj.com
Long-awaited superfight is dead Floyd Mayweather Jr v Manny Pacquiao
Pacquiao to fight Margarito in November
By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports
14 hours, 9 minutes ago
ShareretweetEmailPrintYou can follow Kevin Iole on Twitter at @KevinI
Manny Pacquiao will fight Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13 for a vacant super welterweight championship, either in Las Vegas if Margarito can get licensed or in Monterrey, Mexico, if he can’t, promoter Bob Arum said.
Manny Pacquiao's fight vs. Antonio Margarito (above) will likely take place in either Las Vegas or Monterrey, Mexico.
Reed Saxon, AP
That ends any possibility of a match between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., the top two boxers in the world, for 2010.
Arum said he decided to choose Margarito instead of Miguel Cotto, whom Pacquiao stopped in the 12th round in November, because it would be perceived as a more competitive bout. The bout will be offered on HBO Pay-Per-View.
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“Cotto was beaten and even with [Hall of Fame trainer] Emanuel Steward now with him, I don’t think people believe that it’s enough to make a difference and I’m not sure they would buy it as competitive,” Arum said by telephone from his vacation home in Los Angeles. “But putting aside the controversy about the wraps, the one thing you know for sure with a Margarito fight is that it will be a hell of a fight for however long it lasts.
“Margarito knows only one way to fight and that’s coming forward. They’re going to get in there and fight. That’s what people want to see.”
Margarito’s hand-wrap controversy is no minor matter, however. He was caught with a hardened substance in his knuckle pad prior to a Jan. 24, 2009, fight in California against Shane Mosley.
[Photos: Latest news in boxing]
He was forced to re-wrap his hands and was knocked out in the ninth round by Mosley. In February 2009, he was suspended for a year by the California State Athletic Commission.
He fought once since the Mosley fight, winning a lackluster unanimous decision over Roberto Garcia.
He applied for a license in Nevada on July 9, but by a 4-1 vote, the Nevada Athletic Commission tabled the matter and told Margarito to return to California. Arum said Margarito will file paperwork with California on Monday.
If Nevada grants Margarito a license, Arum said the fight would be in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. If not, it is all but certain to wind up at a 22,000-seat arena in Monterrey, Mexico, though a group from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, is also bidding for the fight.
Skip Avansino, a member of the Nevada commission, said he thinks California regulators should consider it first, even though Margarito doesn’t plan to fight there. The California commission knows the matter best, Avansino said.
Avansino wasn’t willing to speculate what would occur if California were to decline taking up his request, given he doesn’t have a fight planned in the state.
“He certainly deserves a decision,” Avansino said. “I don’t know what procedures California will consider in connection with his reapplication. I would think that they would consider his application appropriately, just as we would, but I would want to wait until I see what California decides.”
Avansino said he wouldn’t be swayed by the huge economic impact the fight would have upon the depressed Las Vegas economy.
Pacquiao is a huge draw in Las Vegas and is one of the few boxers who attracts high-rolling Asian gamblers, who play $25,000-a-hand blackjack as well as baccarat. Las Vegas casinos had their best night in two years Nov. 14, 2009, when Pacquiao fought Cotto, because of the large influx of high-rollers who flooded Las Vegas, according to analysis by the Nevada Gaming Commission.
“I’m mindful of the economic conditions in the state of Nevada and I understand them well,” Avansino said. “I have every interest to improve and help improve the economy in this state. But as a commission, my responsibility is to protect the health and safety of those who compete in our state and to uphold the integrity of the sport. That’s my primary responsibility.”
The match would be for the World Boxing Council super welterweight championship. If Pacquiao wins it, it would be either the seventh or eighth division in which he has held a title, depending upon how it is calculated.
He has won sanctioning body titles at 112, 122, 130, 135, 140 and 147 pounds. At 126 pounds, he beat Marco Antonio Barrera, who was the linear champion. But Barrera had surrendered all of his sanctioning body titles by the time he fought Pacquiao, though he had not been beaten
AP investigation says Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s debts are substantial
by SC on Jul 3, 2009 2:28 AM EDT in News Analysis 6 comments
Floyd Mayweather Jr. may wish he'd been a little more careful with his cash. Is his return mostly for the payday? (via www.boxnews.com.ua)
View full size photo »
A lot of the scuttlebutt surrounding Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s imminent return to boxing centered on people in and out of boxing believing that the former pound-for-pound ruler needed a big payday. Talk of debts to the IRS and others was denied by both the fighter and his friend and business partner, Leonard Ellerbe.
Now, though, the Associated Press has hard evidence.
The IRS hit the former pound-for-pound boxing king with a lien in October for $6.17 million in unpaid taxes from 2007, according to the Clark County Recorder in Las Vegas. A New Jersey Superior Court judgment from the same year shows he owes $193,000 in state taxes there.
...
Besides taxes, county records in Las Vegas show the former five-division champ has unresolved debts worth $9,400 to three homeowners associations. Other liens filed with the county say the boxer did not pay nearly $3,900 to a contractor that programmed electronics at one of his homes and $320.10 to his trash collector.
Add it all up: $6,376,620. And ten cents.
Ellerbe continues to deny the claims:
"Floyd Mayweather does not have a problem with the IRS," Ellerbe told the AP on Thursday. "He doesn't owe the IRS $6.1 million ... I don't (care) what a lien says."
"When you have a problem with them, you ain't hard to find — ask Wesley Snipes," Ellerbe said. "You go to jail, they come take your (stuff). He doesn't have a problem."
I know they want to spin this as best they can, but it took years for Wesley Snipes' troubles to become known. More than that, Mayweather has a September 19 date that even after taxes on that and paying his corner and the like will still single-handedly erase this debt. Don't forget he's also the lead promoter for his fight with Juan Manuel Marquez.
This isn't about disgracing Floyd or anything. These things happen. Richer folks than Mayweather have screwed up their finances beyond belief. As huge a figure as $6 million-plus is, it's quite fixable in his position.
It is, though, hard to take Ellerbe seriously with this news now so readily available to the public. Like it or not, Mayweather-Marquez will now be firmly associated with one thing: Floyd needing the money
Floyd Mayweather Jr. may wish he'd been a little more careful with his cash. Is his return mostly for the payday? (via www.boxnews.com.ua)
View full size photo »
A lot of the scuttlebutt surrounding Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s imminent return to boxing centered on people in and out of boxing believing that the former pound-for-pound ruler needed a big payday. Talk of debts to the IRS and others was denied by both the fighter and his friend and business partner, Leonard Ellerbe.
Now, though, the Associated Press has hard evidence.
The IRS hit the former pound-for-pound boxing king with a lien in October for $6.17 million in unpaid taxes from 2007, according to the Clark County Recorder in Las Vegas. A New Jersey Superior Court judgment from the same year shows he owes $193,000 in state taxes there.
...
Besides taxes, county records in Las Vegas show the former five-division champ has unresolved debts worth $9,400 to three homeowners associations. Other liens filed with the county say the boxer did not pay nearly $3,900 to a contractor that programmed electronics at one of his homes and $320.10 to his trash collector.
Add it all up: $6,376,620. And ten cents.
Ellerbe continues to deny the claims:
"Floyd Mayweather does not have a problem with the IRS," Ellerbe told the AP on Thursday. "He doesn't owe the IRS $6.1 million ... I don't (care) what a lien says."
"When you have a problem with them, you ain't hard to find — ask Wesley Snipes," Ellerbe said. "You go to jail, they come take your (stuff). He doesn't have a problem."
I know they want to spin this as best they can, but it took years for Wesley Snipes' troubles to become known. More than that, Mayweather has a September 19 date that even after taxes on that and paying his corner and the like will still single-handedly erase this debt. Don't forget he's also the lead promoter for his fight with Juan Manuel Marquez.
This isn't about disgracing Floyd or anything. These things happen. Richer folks than Mayweather have screwed up their finances beyond belief. As huge a figure as $6 million-plus is, it's quite fixable in his position.
It is, though, hard to take Ellerbe seriously with this news now so readily available to the public. Like it or not, Mayweather-Marquez will now be firmly associated with one thing: Floyd needing the money
Bank: Floyd Mayweather Jr. owes $167,192 on car loan in default
Floyd Mayweather Jr. works out at his Las Vegas gym this month. Mayweather is preparing for his upcoming fight with Juan Manuel Marquez on Sept. 19 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
By Steve Green (contact)
Monday, Sept. 14, 2009 | 12:46 p.m.
Sun Archives
More fighting news
Just days before his fight against Juan Manuel Marquez, Las Vegas boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. faces another potential distraction in the form of a lawsuit.
JP Morgan Chase Bank filed suit in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas on Wednesday against Mayweather, claiming he owes more than $167,000 on an auto loan that is in default.
The suit shows that in April 2007, Mayweather borrowed $415,695 to finance the purchase for $512,184 of a Mercedes Maybach 57S from dealer Fletcher Jones Imports in Las Vegas.
The contract called for an interest rate of 16 percent and 72 monthly payments of $9,077, which the lawsuit said Mayweather failed to make beginning in February 2008.
Court records indicate the bank repossessed the vehicle in January 2009, when the past-due balance had grown to $36,309 and the balance due was $363,000.
After the bank sold the Maybach for $196,000, JP Morgan Chase said that as of March, Mayweather still owed $167,192 on the contract, plus unspecified legal expenses.
Messages seeking comment on the lawsuit were left Monday with Mayweather's office and with his attorney in an unrelated case.
The suit was filed on behalf of JP Morgan Chase by attorney Caleb Langsdale with the Cooper Castle Law Firm. Langsdale said Monday he could not elaborate on the allegations.
The lawsuit follows an incident last month in which police searched a home belonging to Mayweather as part of an investigation of a shooting at a Las Vegas skating rink.
Police in a search warrant said they believed an associate of Mayweather was the shooter in the incident in which no one was injured. Detectives seized two handguns, ammunition and two bulletproof vests and said another car of Mayweather's, a Rolls-Royce, was at the home when it was searched.
Mayweather is coming out of retirement with plans to fight Marquez on Saturday at the MGM Grand resort in Las Vegas
By Steve Green (contact)
Monday, Sept. 14, 2009 | 12:46 p.m.
Sun Archives
More fighting news
Just days before his fight against Juan Manuel Marquez, Las Vegas boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. faces another potential distraction in the form of a lawsuit.
JP Morgan Chase Bank filed suit in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas on Wednesday against Mayweather, claiming he owes more than $167,000 on an auto loan that is in default.
The suit shows that in April 2007, Mayweather borrowed $415,695 to finance the purchase for $512,184 of a Mercedes Maybach 57S from dealer Fletcher Jones Imports in Las Vegas.
The contract called for an interest rate of 16 percent and 72 monthly payments of $9,077, which the lawsuit said Mayweather failed to make beginning in February 2008.
Court records indicate the bank repossessed the vehicle in January 2009, when the past-due balance had grown to $36,309 and the balance due was $363,000.
After the bank sold the Maybach for $196,000, JP Morgan Chase said that as of March, Mayweather still owed $167,192 on the contract, plus unspecified legal expenses.
Messages seeking comment on the lawsuit were left Monday with Mayweather's office and with his attorney in an unrelated case.
The suit was filed on behalf of JP Morgan Chase by attorney Caleb Langsdale with the Cooper Castle Law Firm. Langsdale said Monday he could not elaborate on the allegations.
The lawsuit follows an incident last month in which police searched a home belonging to Mayweather as part of an investigation of a shooting at a Las Vegas skating rink.
Police in a search warrant said they believed an associate of Mayweather was the shooter in the incident in which no one was injured. Detectives seized two handguns, ammunition and two bulletproof vests and said another car of Mayweather's, a Rolls-Royce, was at the home when it was searched.
Mayweather is coming out of retirement with plans to fight Marquez on Saturday at the MGM Grand resort in Las Vegas
IRS WOES MAY FORCE FLOYD MAYWEATHER COMEBACK
By Mike Responts
FLOYD MAYWEATHER
There has been plenty of buzz and rumors around Las Vegas recently regarding a possible comeback by boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Mayweather retired undefeated in June of 2008 following big paydays against Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton. Despite making millions in those two fights, and being the top boxer on HBO for several years, there are rumors that Mayweather needs money.
The website Boxingscene.com ran a story yesterday that claims Mayweather has found out he owes the IRS $6.1 million in back taxes and may be facing a lien for the money. Despite making millions, Mayweather has several rather expensive hobbies. He likes to “Make it Rain” often throwing $30,000-$40,000 in the air at clubs for the crowd to scoop up. He also frequently bets big money on sporting events from his home city of Las Vegas. Mayweather’s gambling was shown on the HBO Countdown series. What the tv show didn’t go into is that Mayweather is a really BAD gambler. He once got in a fistfight with longtime friend 50 Cent over money Mayweather owed the rapper from a gambling debt. Mayweather also blew a lot of money on a collection of luxury automobiles. If you watch Cribs, you know Mayweathers owns more than 20 cars.
All of this had led to rumors of Mayweather returning to the ring sometime late in 2009. The most likely scenario would have him facing Manny Pacquiao for another big payday.
Mayweather has always fancied himself as somewhat of a businessman. He has long said his goal was “to be a billionaire.” Among those who doubt Mayweather’s business acumen is the boxer’s own father. Floyd Maweather Sr. (who admittedly has a terrible relationship with his son)recently told the Grand Rapids Press,
“He won’t be a billionaire in a billion years. Mark my words, someday he’ll be running through the streets of Grand Rapids broke.”
Tags: Floyd Mayweather
This entry was posted on January
FLOYD MAYWEATHER
There has been plenty of buzz and rumors around Las Vegas recently regarding a possible comeback by boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Mayweather retired undefeated in June of 2008 following big paydays against Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton. Despite making millions in those two fights, and being the top boxer on HBO for several years, there are rumors that Mayweather needs money.
The website Boxingscene.com ran a story yesterday that claims Mayweather has found out he owes the IRS $6.1 million in back taxes and may be facing a lien for the money. Despite making millions, Mayweather has several rather expensive hobbies. He likes to “Make it Rain” often throwing $30,000-$40,000 in the air at clubs for the crowd to scoop up. He also frequently bets big money on sporting events from his home city of Las Vegas. Mayweather’s gambling was shown on the HBO Countdown series. What the tv show didn’t go into is that Mayweather is a really BAD gambler. He once got in a fistfight with longtime friend 50 Cent over money Mayweather owed the rapper from a gambling debt. Mayweather also blew a lot of money on a collection of luxury automobiles. If you watch Cribs, you know Mayweathers owns more than 20 cars.
All of this had led to rumors of Mayweather returning to the ring sometime late in 2009. The most likely scenario would have him facing Manny Pacquiao for another big payday.
Mayweather has always fancied himself as somewhat of a businessman. He has long said his goal was “to be a billionaire.” Among those who doubt Mayweather’s business acumen is the boxer’s own father. Floyd Maweather Sr. (who admittedly has a terrible relationship with his son)recently told the Grand Rapids Press,
“He won’t be a billionaire in a billion years. Mark my words, someday he’ll be running through the streets of Grand Rapids broke.”
Tags: Floyd Mayweather
This entry was posted on January
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