STAND DOWN, SPORTS fans. The grinch that is Bob Arum says that the biggest fight in boxing is unlikely to happen on 5 May.
Instead, the Top Rank promoter said that the broad hints being dropped by Floyd Mayweather’s camp are just an attempt to deflect attention away from Manny Pacquiao’s upcoming tussle with old rival Juan Manuel Marquez.
Yesterday, Leonard Ellerbe, one of Mayweather’s advisers, said that the WBC Welterweight Champ was planning a Vegas fight for May of next year, sparking speculation that an eagerly-anticipated showdown with Pacquiao might be a possibility.
But, Arum told ESPN.com, there hasn’t even been an attempt to open lines of communication between the two camps.
Previous negotiations between the sides have stalled in the past, snagging on issues such as the cut-off date for blood testing, and Arum insisted that his man won’t even be thinking about the issues surrounding a Mayweather super fight until after next weekend.
“Listen, we’re not going to consider anything until after the Marquez fight. The way they are going about it seems like a bizarre way to go about it.
If you want to put it together, you meet, you talk. You don’t just come out and say, ‘The fight is May 5 at the MGM.’ What kind of negotiation is that? So I don’t take what they said seriously.
“When do the games stop and serious negotiations begin,” he added. “This latest stunt is a game. It really is hilarious if they think this is how you negotiate.
“Why did they, if they were serious people, do it this way? In other words, this was going to make us happy? Why would they do this – lay out a venue, a date already? What was that about?
“Let’s wait until November 14 and see where it goes, but this kind of stuff is counterproductive.”
