While I was neck deep in work this past holiday weekend, the subject came up as to how the negotiations between Mayweather and Pacquiao are coming along. Thankfully, both Golden Boy and Top Rank have decided to keep the media in the dark, even keeping Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, out of the loop. I still couldn't help bring myself to the conclusion that even with the extra provisions, this fight isn't going to happen.
Considering that Mayweather's pay-per-view with Shane Mosley pulled in 1.4 million buys, which was more than Pacquiao's fights with Joshua Clottey (vicinity of 750,000) and Miguel Cotto (1.25 million), he'll almost be certainly asking for more money, which is apparent he deserves because, let's face it everybody, Mayweather is the draw.
Where we'll find a sinkhole in these negotiations is the drug testing, yet again. Pacquiao will simply not commit to bending to Mayweather's will and for a fighter who held up two of his biggest paydays (against Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton), it looks like pride, and not money, is the issue at stake.
The fight also went down the drain the first time around thanks, in part, to the fact that Pacquiao had a large well to draw fighters from within Top Rank, which was a financially preferable option on his end. When I talked to Bob Arum during Pacquiao's media workout for the Clottey fight, he mentioned that Margarito had a great chance of getting the fight in the Fall. What's even more troubling is that there are talks going around that Pacquiao may move up to 154 and fight Cotto in a rematch that nobody will want to see.
Mayweather, on the other hand, hasn't said too much outside of a possible Sergio Martinez fight at Middleweight. Although I don't doubt Mayweather's skills and talents, I find that at that high of a weight class, he'll lose whatever power he has and his speed will be greatly affected, even against a smaller Middleweight like Martinez. I happened to have the same opinion when there were talks about Pacquiao facing Yuri Foreman, and so did Roach, who was concerned that Foreman was too tall and too long in lieu of the fact that Foreman only has eight knockouts.
All of histories greatest fights took time to materialize. Ali-Frazier was bogged down due to Ali's ban from the sport, Leonard-Hearns was delayed so Hearns could become a bigger name, Holyfield-Tyson didn't happen until six years later due to Tyson's rape conviction, but they all happened. Pacquiao-Mayweather may be on track for success, or yet another monumental failure.
It's easy to say that the first go round, Pacquiao and Mayweather did it all wrong, making press members and the media involved in every step of the negotiation process, but now, they have a chance to make right by keeping us out. Whereas the only positive outcome is a fight this November between the two, at least these private negotiations can really give us somebody to blame. Whether or not Mayweather's recent comments about taking a year or two off are just a negotiating ploy remains to be seen, however, it's clear that there's much more going on behind-the-scenes than anyone really knows about.