Floyd Mayweather Jr. aide: No megafight

The latest round of negotiations for the potential megafight between welterweight champions Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. are over before they have even begun.

Leonard Ellerbe, one of Mayweather's advisers, and Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer both told ESPN.com Monday that they were notified that Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank was not interested in coming to the table.

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In my opinion, you have three cowards -- Bob Arum, (Pacquiao trainer) Freddie Roach and Manny Pacquiao.
â€￾ -- Leonard Ellerbe,
advisor to Floyd Mayweather Jr.

"We have been informed that Bob Arum is not interested in pursuing a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao at this time," Schaefer said.

Mayweather knocked out Victor Ortiz in his return to the ring after 16 months off in September, and Pacquiao eked out a controversial majority decision against rival Juan Manuel Marquez in their third meeting Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

That set the table for the showdown that looms as the biggest money fight in boxing history, especially with Mayweather announcing two weeks ago that he planned to return May 5 at the MGM Grand and, according to Ellerbe, wanted to "make the biggest fight possible and everyone knows what that fight is, the little fella (Pacquiao)."

However, that does not appear to be the plan Arum and Pacquiao have, even if they had said they were open to it before the Marquez fight.

Schaefer said the notification came in an email from retired federal judge Daniel Weinstein, the mediator who has worked closely with the sides to settle numerous lawsuits and issues in recent years.

"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 said, invoking Arum's most famous quote. "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."

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Schaefer said the plan was to use Weinstein to help them make the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight because he is trusted by both sides and intimately familiar with the problems between the rival promotional companies.

"Judge Weinstein is respected by both parties and mediated issues between Top Rank and Golden Boy before, so the plan was to see if he could help facilitate such a fight. Floyd's team really wanted to get this fight done," Schaefer said. "If you just sit down with Arum, he can at any time have one of his fits, one of his 'f--- you' attacks, and the likelihood that he would have a 'f--- you' attack in front of a retired judge seemed less likely than if Arum and me would be alone in a room."

Arum told ESPN.com that he knew nothing about an email and claimed that nobody from his company had communicated anything about making -- or not making -- a possible Pacquiao-Mayweather fight.

But Arum did say, "We are pursuing a fourth fight with Marquez. 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."

Ellerbe was just as upset as Schaefer was.

[Pacquiao promoter Bob] Arum told ESPN.com that he knew nothing about an email and claimed that nobody from his company had communicated anything about making -- or not making -- a possible Pacquiao-Mayweather fight.

"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."

Ellerbe said he and Schaefer would begin exploring potential May 5 opponents for Mayweather.

"We have a number of options, and we will evaluate that and give the fans the biggest fight we can give them," he said. "But before we can get started (on a Pacquiao fight), Top Rank doesn't even want to listen. They're not even interested in Floyd Mayweather. They want no part of Floyd Mayweather. They have no interest in the little fella fighting Floyd. Manny Pacquiao needs to stand up, in my opinion, and tell his promoter that he wants to fight Floyd Mayweather next and stop hiding behind his promoter."

Ellerbe said Mayweather (42-0, 26 KOs) did not watch as Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KOs) turned in a shaky performance on Saturday night because he was making a paid appearance at a nightclub in Virginia. Mayweather came out of a 21-month retirement in September 2009 and fought Marquez, dropping him in the second round and winning a near-shutout decision, a far more dominating performance than Pacquiao has had against him in any of their three bouts.

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/i...aide-says-manny-pacquiao-camp-even-talk-fight

 

harvard jew :bears:

 

yawn yawn yawn yawn yawnyawn yawn yawn yawn yawn yawn

 

When Pacquaio was ready, Floyd put OBSTACLES in the way of the superfight. Pacquaio was ready after destroying every opponent Floyd had faced.

Now Pacquaio is busy with Marquez, struggled with someone Floyd breezed through. I'm sure Floyd can now WAIT for Pacquaio just as Manny waited for him.

 

Arum is a cancer on the sport

 

:laugh11:

 

This is such malarkey. Fact is, gbp and tr can make more money without this fight. Bottom line. And we all know as long as this is the case, the promoters will take turns stalling, exhausting our interest in both guys until such time as it does make sense - until they need each other.

 

i hate boxing

 

So far, Arum deserves shit for trying to float the idea of a 4th fight with Marquez. Even if he thought it was a good idea based on the close(r than expected) nature of the third fight, public opinion has spoken and it's NOT the fight everyone wants to see.

He also deserves shit for cutting short Saturday's press conference. IMO, it was even less professional than what took place between Mayweather and Merchant.

What I find amazing, though, is that Ellerbe couldn't even mention Pacquiao's name prior to Saturday, instead speaking cryptically to the media. And in speaking to the media after the Ortiz fight, Floyd came up with dozens of excuses for not thinking about a fight with Pacquiao.

Now all of a sudden, there's a mysterious e-mail floating around - this despite the fact that everyone at Top Rank on and off the record denied sending such a note. Now, they have no problem calling Pacquiao by name now that he finally looked vulnerable in the 2+ years this fight has been hovering around. This despite the fact that Ellerbe and Floyd both claim to have not yet watched the fight.

This whole ordeal is pathetic. It's gone from a legit superfight to who can get to the media first to sling the latest round of shit, and it's beyond exhausting.

 

i disagree. i think plenty of people want to see a 4th fight, and if it is made it will out selll saturdays ppv.

 

Arum might be the one stalling shit now, but Jakey boy is right - it's beyond pathetic that team Flomo barely mentioned Pacquiao's name and now they're giving it the big one like they've been clamouring for the fight all along.

Surely Floyd does try and make the fight now, Pacquiao looked more beatable than he ever has on Saturday.

 

I think Pacquaio had Mayweather in mind Saturday.

He has to make all the circunstances feel and look right before Mayweather is secure enough to even call Pacquaio out, instead of mentioning testing all the time.

Ladies and gentleman, the TRAP has been laid...

 

I'd rather see Pac V PBF.
I have a fairly good (empirically based) idea of how Manny & Marquez stack up against each other.

 

Alright I'll rephrase...

If a 4th fight is made, yes while people will talk shit about a boycott, they will in fact buy/watch it and it will probably sell as well as whatever turns out to be the case for this weekend.

But so far, my own inbox is about 90:1 in terms of emails from fans who want to see Pac-Floyd next before seeing Pac-Marquez IV

 

But this was expected from Floyd. He's on the same pattern that De La Hoya and Ray Leonard used to walk. Take your time, let him slip then jump on him. I'm a fan of Floyd, but I gotta admit he's always been wary of fighting Pacquiao, until last saturday.

 

shit innit

 

Arum is a cunt, if this is true.

Still, I maintain hope. Too much money to be made here for it to not be made.

 

Except not really when Floyd can shift 1.25m sales selling no hopers and pay them only 1.5m odd and keep the rest for himself. A Pac fight would have to project over double that for it to be a significant pay rise for Floyd.

 

Let's hope this is like the Holyfield/Czyz fight where Holy looked like shit before fighting Mike. Mike thought the fight was a sign of Holyfield being shot and felt it was a great opportunity to pounce, only to get pounded!

 

Yep. Or taking it the other way, Leonard finally fighting Hagler after the Mugabi fight.

 

That's where you're wrong. And where we've all been wrong for a long time.

Don't you see? The same people buying PBF's fights are the ones buying Pacquiao's. You put them in together, costs sky-rocket, but PPV sales really won't. Not to the same extent.

People are always talking about the gross money on the table if this fight gets made. But that number is meaningless. The number that matters is the incremental income, over and above that of a PBF/Ortiz fight, or of a Pacquiao/JMM fight. This number, evidently, is not sufficiently large enough yet. And my guess, it will not be until the success of shows like PBF/Ortiz begin to dwindle. In that sense, it would go a long way to getting this fight made if we collectively withheld purchase of interim events, such as Pacquia/JMM 4. As long as these events are successful, it does not make economic sense for the big one to get made.

 

:giggle:

Such useless drivel.

 

No it's not. Promoters are there to make money. If the fight made financial sense for them, it would be made. There's little we can count on fight promoters for. But one is that they're going to do whatever's in their best interest financially.

And don't blame me for your lack of reading comprehension.

 

After saturday night I dont even care...pac lost

 

This shit is so boring now fellas. C'mon now, this fight aint gonna happen.

 

I have to admit... after Saturday, I really do care much less about this fight. I will no longer consider suicide if it doesn't happen.

 

I'm excited about khan/mayweather.

 

When I got down to it, and I'm honest with myself, I'm excited to see PBF lose. Whether that's to Pacquiao or some other fighter is less important at this point.

Thing is, I think PBF is an awesome fighter. And I used to be a fan of his. And I think if he lost, or better yet, fought the best and won, I'd be able to become a fan of his again.

As it is, he's a mercenary just like RJJ was and it's impossible to root for him.

 

When you're not on one of your bizarre rants, you can actually make good sense.

Pacquiao and Mayweather would make, what, $50 or 60 million fighting each other? Pacquiao got over $40 million in guarantees alone this year, against a no-hoper in old Mosley and a guy seen as a bit of a no-hoper going in. Mayweather can get guarantees in that range against guys like Ortiz and Khan, who barely have a snowball's chance in hell of beating him. Yeah, it takes more fights and more time to equal the total they'd make facing each other, but they're easier fights, and they keep the gravy train going and dangle the carrot in front of us.

Arum doesn't have to share the promotion with G, and can put Pacquiao in safe (or perceived safe) fights.

As long as people keep buying these other fights, there's less motivation for each side to make the fight.

 

Arum makes me hate boxing and I will be pissed if Manny fights JMM again. People just need to accept that it's going to be close every damn time. Manny WILL lose to JMM if he keeps fighting him. Why in the hell would Arum risk a loss to JMM when he can make twice as much putting him in there with Mayweather? It makes no sense at all.