The fight every boxing fans wants to see is in jeopardy once again of not happening.
After Manny Pacquiao won his third fight against Juan Manuel Marquez Saturday night it seemed to clear the way for a May 2012 fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr, if the two parties could agree on the particulars. Now, it appears that Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum is trying to lock up a fourth fight with Marquez instead for May.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer told ESPN.com that he was notified of Arum's intentions by Judge Daniel Weinstein. Waienstein has mediated issue between Golden Boy and Arum's Top Rank in the past.
"I am sick and tired of Bob Arum twisting the truth. It's another case of 'yesterday I was lying, today I'm telling the truth,' " Schaefer told ESPN.com. "The truth of the matter is that we received this afternoon an email from retired federal judge Daniel Weinstein, who has informed us that Top Rank is pursuing a rematch with Marquez and, therefore, is not interested in immediate talks for a possible Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. This is obviously as clear as it can be that they have no intentions of making a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. Therefore, Floyd Mayweather will have no other choice than to move on and identify and lock in another opponent for his ring return on May 5."
Leonard Ellerbe, one of Mayweather's advisors said that in his opinion Arum, Freddie Roach and Pac Man are scared to make the fight with Money May happen.
"In my opinion, you have three cowards -- Bob Arum, (Pacquiao trainer) Freddie Roach and Manny Pacquiao," Ellerbe told ESPN.com. "Now we all know the truth once and for all why this fight hasn't been made. It should be clear to everyone that they don't care what the fans want, especially when Floyd is ready, willing and able to fight Manny Pacquiao now. Floyd said if this isn't clear, he doesn't know what is.
"All along we know why the fight isn't being made. This is the perfect opportunity. Both guys just fought. This is the fight the fans want to see, and it's a disgrace that they are not willing to give the fans what they want. In my opinion, there are three reasons why Arum doesn't want the fight. He knows there is no way that Manny Pacquiao can win, it kills his cash cow, and he wants to do in-house fights where he controls both sides. I said all along why this fight hasn't been made to this point. Manny Pacquiao knows, Bob Arum knows and Freddie Roach knows."
Arum denied knowing anything about an email being sent to Mayweather's team, but he did acknowledge he was pursuing a fourth fight between Pacquiao and Marquez.
"We are pursuing a fourth fight with Marquez," Arum said. "As far as doing anything definitively, we aren't ready to do anything definitively. When we are ready to make a determination of what we are going to do, we will do it. We are not going to do this in the press. We will do what is in the best interest of ourselves and our client and make a decision when it's time to. If we decide we want to do a rematch with Marquez, there is no reason to sit down with Mayweather. If we want to explore a Mayweather fight, we will sit down with them. But I'm not going to sit down with them just because it's a good show."
Bob Arum
As far as Mayweather is concerned there is no point in the Filipino champion fighting Marquez again.
"Why? I mean, I truly feel that Marquez is never going to get the benefit of the doubt," Mayweather told Fighthype.com. "I want to congratulate Marquez and I want to congratulate Manny Pacquiao for doing it a third time, but I just feel like if you get it done right the first time, there's no need for a second or third fight, and if it is needed, do it again in the same fashion and in the same way, or do it even better. People fail to realize, when I faced Marquez, I was two years off just traveling and vacationing. I took two years off, no working out, no other activities. I went into training camp and then the fight had got pushed back because I had an injury, so that pushed it back a little bit more, but I still went out there and performed and looked marvelous. If I fight a guy and I don't knock him out, they say, "Well, Mayweather didn't knock him out." If I knock him out in the late rounds, they say, "Well, what took so long?" If I knock him out in the early rounds, they say, "Well, you can always catch a guy cold." Like I said before, I'm always in a no-win situation. If I fight a guy that's my age, they're going to say, "You know what? He's over the hill." When I fought Marquez, they said Marquez was over the hill. Remember, when I fought Marquez, I think he was 36 and I was 32. Now, two years later, Pacquiao is 32 and Marquez is 38."
So, once again it looks like boxing fans will be deprived of the one mega fight the sport has to offer.
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