Photos of Pacquiao’s fight against Mexican legend Erik Morales in 2006 show the American boxer among the spectators rooting for the Filipino during the match held at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.

The photos, grabbed from videos taken during the Pacquiao-Morales II fight, have been published on Examiner.com.

Mayweather has become a staunch critic of Pacquiao, particularly after the Filipino overtook him as the top pound-for-pound fighter.

HBO’s video of Pacquiao-Morales II shows Mayweather with the jubilant crowd who cheered the Filipino’s technical knockout victory over the Mexican.

When Kenny Bayless halted the fight in the 10th round in favor of the Filipino, the American climbed his seat and lifted his right fist as if saying “My fighter won!”

The fight was the second of the Pacquiao-Morales trilogy that saw the Filipino boxing star winning the last two matches.

Pacquiao was then fighting as a featherweight, and was not considered a potential opponent of Mayweather.

Since that victory, the Filipino boxing star has racked 10 straight victories, climbing his way up to the welterweight division. His victims included bigger fighters like Oscar de la Hoya, Miguel Cotto and Ricky Hatton.

There have been efforts to pit Pacquiao versus Mayweather, but negotiations bogged down twice.

Last week, the American boxer even fired racist remarks against Pacquiao through Ustream, calling the Filipino various names including “Poochiao,” midget, and “yellow chump.”

Mayweather eventually apologized for the remarks, claiming “he was just having fun.”

Source: abs-cbnNEWS.com

Photo Credit: examiner.com

In an interview with Jose Aguirre of BoxingScene.com, Roach said he believes that Mayweather will not accept a fight with his ward.

“He waits for Manny to sign a contract with someone else, so he doesn’t have to be pressured into fighting Pacquiao,” said the 4-time Trainer of the Year recipient.

“He wants to keep the zero on his record so he can argue that he’s the best fighter in the world. So he can say that he’s better than Sugar Ray Robinson. As long as he has that zero, he can make an argument, but once that zero is gone – the argument is over,” he added.

Negotiations for the Pacquiao-Mayweather bout fell apart twice, firstly because of the camps’ disagreement on the drug testing protocol, and secondly because the undefeated Mayweather (41-0, with 25 knockouts) reportedly snubbed a deadline to fight the 7-division world champion Pacquiao (51-3-2, with 38 KOs).

Roach also slammed Mayweather for being too picky about his opponents.

“A loss is a part of life. A loss can make you better. Actually, it’s good to lose sometimes in our lives to improve ourselves, to get a wake up call. In Floyd’s little mind, he’s content with that zero,” he went on.

He pointed out the Sugar Ray Robinson (173-19-6-2, with 108 KOs) and other boxing greats suffered losses in their career but are still considered as legends of the sport.

“But when he [Mayweather] compares himself to those type of guys, it doesn’t sit with me too well because he won’t even fight the best guys out there today. He actually ducked [Antonio] Margarito a couple of years ago also. He was offered a lot of money to fight him twice and ducked him. He picks and chooses his opponents and if that’s what he’s going to be happy with….so be it.”

The Pacquiao-Mayweather bout was first scheduled on March 13 then on November 13.

Pacquiao went on to defeat Ghanaian Joshua Clottey on March 13 by unanimous decision while Mayweather beat Shane Mosley on May also by unanimous decision.

The Filipino boxing superstar will then face Mexico’s Margarito on November 13 at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Mayweather, for his part, first announced that he will be taking a short break from boxing. He also revealed that Dubai will be the destination of his next fight.

Source: abs-cbnNEWS.com

Photo by Jacob de Golish/Getty Images

The Mayweather-Mosley fight reportedly generated 1.4 million pay-per-view buys while the Pacquiao-Clottey fight attracted only 700,000 PPV buys. Had Pacquiao fought Mayweather, the match could have been an all-time record breaker in television revenues and gate attendance.

Fans were at rage when Mayweather made racist comments against Pacquiao, purposely to get media attention when all publicity was now focused on the Pacquiao fight with Antonio Margarito. But Mayweather recently apologized for his dishonorable tirades, while the Pacman, who took it professionally and behaved honorably, was not affected by the fume and decided to concentrate on the Margarito fight instead.

Mayweather asked Pacquiao to undertake random blood and urine testing until the fight day during the first negotiation. But Pacquiao said he will undergo blood and urine testing up until 14 days before the fight, for the reason that extracting blood too close to the fight day will weaken him. The Mayweather camp suspected that if a boxer is tested prior to a 14-day period leading up to a match, that boxer can still cheat by taking performance enhancing drugs.

On the second negotiation, Pacquiao agreed to submit himself to both blood and urine testing as desired by the Mayweather camp and only the signature of Floyd Mayweather was lacking to finalize the deal that could have earned both fighters at least $40 million each. Mayweather was then given a two-week deadline for the fight contract to be signed. Arum also announced that Pacquiao accepted the terms of the random drug testing, blood and urine, leading up to the fight.

But no actions were done by Mayweather until the deadline imposed by the Pacquiao camp. When all negotiations were finally put to an end, Mayweather declared through the Associated Press that he had fought sixty days ago and that he was not rushing into fighting especially with Pacquiao. He was using all the reasons in the world to evade fighting the Filipino icon.

The Mayweather team denied any negotiations taking place for a super fight but Bob Arum insisted that Oscar de a Hoya stated that they were “very, very close in finalizing the contracts.” It was obvious that the Mayweather camp was not keen on facing Pacquiao. A victory by the pound-for-pound king over the loud-mouthed former king would put the undefeated fighter into boxing oblivion. Obviously, he would rather challenge lesser opponents first and would meet the Pacman when Money is ready to retire.

Meanwhile, Mayweather tried to keep catching media attention in order not to be forgotten by boxing fans. The last fight with Mosley maybe a television blockbuster as far as pay-per-view is concerned, but a Pacquiao-Margarito match could be much better than the Mayweather-Mosley yawner.

By: Maloney L. Samaco
Source: PhilBoxing.com

In a live Ustream around Friday midnight, Mayweather could be seen with several of his friends at an undisclosed location showing off his diamond-encrusted watch and bracelet, flashing fans of hundred dollar bills and interacting with fans.

“I do want to apologize for the other night,” said Mayweather, who brushed his friends aside and stared in front of the webcam for a “heart to heart with my fans.”

“A lot of people were saying I made racist comments but anybody that knows me knows that I don’t have a racist bone in my body… I have nothing but love in my heart… Anybody affected by what I said I apologize as a man. [I was] just having fun I didn’t mean it.”

Mayweather’s apology comes several hours after a video posted on Ustream, a live video streaming website, showed him mouth an expletive-filled and racist tirade against world No. 1 pound-4-pound boxer-turned-politician of the Philippines Pacquiao.

During the 10-minute diatribe, Mayweather asserted Pacquiao uses performance-enhancing drugs, called him a “yellow chump” and said after he defeats him, “I’ll make that mother f—– make me a sushi roll and cook me some rice.”

“That motherf—– Pacquiao he can’t speak no English, he ain’t never seen a contract he didn’t like,” said Mayweather, who can be seen talking on the phone and insulting Pacquiao and at times, staring directly into the camera.

Pacquiao, who’s on the last leg of a 3-city promotional tour with Margarito, dismissed Mayweather’s latest flame.

“I just heard about that, but I didn’t see the video,” Pacquiao told the Associated Press on Friday at the Dallas Cowboys stadium, where his fight with Margarito will take place. “But it’s an uneducated message.”

Mayweather said he’s going on vacation for about a year and as soon as he gets back, “we’re going to cook that little yellow chump.”

“We ain’t worried about that. So they ain’t gotta worry about me fighting the midget. Once I kick the midget ass, I don’t want you all to jump on my d—. So you all better get on the bandwagon now.”

It is unclear when the Mayweather video was made, but the timing was hardly coincidental especially with Pacquiao announcing his bout with Margarito.

The video has already riled fans (who have filled message boards) who have been clamoring for a Pacquiao-Mayweather bout that has broken down twice already.

In Mayweather’s latest video post, he said Pacquiao is a good fighter but he’s not the best.

“He thinks he’s one of the best but I am the best,” said Mayweather. “For all you Pacquiao fans, stand behind him believe that he’s going to win. All 41 of my other opponents have believed they would win but it didn’t happen. I believe in my skills [and] I believe in my talents.”

He also expressed his condolences to his former promoter, Top Rank’s Bob Arum, whose son was found dead after a climbing trip in North Cascade National Park in Washington State.

“God bless to Bob Arum and his whole family,” said Mayweather. “All love to Arum and his family.”

By: Joseph Pimente
Source: abs-cbnNews.com

In a Ustream video uploaded in YouTube.com, the outspoken Mayweather belittled the Filipino by referring to him as a pooch or dog.

“When we do come back, we will kick Poochiao’s ass. So I’m letting the fans know, don’t worry, we will kick Poochiao’s ass,” said the American boxer, who has been criticized for ducking a fight against the 7-division world champion.

The Ustream video was reportedly recorded on September 2, two days after the Pacquiao-Margarito press tour began.

Despite telling boxing fans that he’ll beat up Pacquiao, Mayweather claimed he has no urge fighting the Filipino anytime soon.

“I truly believe I am going to fight again, but as of right now, I don’t have the urge to get up,” he said.

Mayweather also reiterated that Pacquiao would have to take blood and urine tests if he wants the fight to take place.

“He’s going to take the urine and the blood test and what I truly believe is if we’re cheating, if an athlete is cheating, then we’re cheating the fans,” said Pacquiao’s foe.

He again bragged his perfect 41-0 boxing record, as opposed to Pacquiao’s 51-3-2.

“Like I said before, Poochiao got 3 losses and 2 draws and been knocked out twice,” said Mayweather.

The Pacquiao-Mayweather fight has been negotiated twice but failed in both occasions.

During the first round of talks that took place last January, the Mayweather camp insisted that Pacquiao undergo Olympic-style drug testing, which the latter refused.

Pacquiao eventually agreed to the drug tests during the second round of talks in May, but Mayweather’s camp claimed no negotiation took place.

‘Just afraid to lose’

Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach, meanwhile, said the only thing stopping Mayweather from fighting Pacquiao is his fear of losing.

Roach told Sport Radio Interviews.com that the only reason for Mayweather’s claim to boxing greatness is his unbeaten record.

“As long as he’s undefeated, he can argue and say he’s the best fighter ever, he’s as good as Sugar Ray Robinson and so forth, and he can make that argument as long as he doesn’t have that loss on his record,” said Roach.

Roach added that Mayweather doesn’t seem to want to face the best boxers.

“I think it’s more important for him to stay undefeated than fight the best guy out there,” he said.

Source: abs-cbnNEWS.com

MANILA, Philippines – Floyd Mayweather, Jr. may be getting flak for reportedly snubbing the deadline to fight Manny Pacquiao. But for his father, Floyd Mayweather, Sr., it is the other way around.

“Yeah, he’s scared,” the elder Mayweather said of Pacquiao in an On the Ropes Boxing Radio interview as quoted by The Mushroom Mag.

“The only thing they’re trying to do is to switch this around and make it look like it’s my son that’s scared. He ain’t the one that’s scared. I know who’s scared for real,” he added.

Floyd Sr. went on to say to say a mouthful about Pacquiao’s fear of Floyd Jr.

“He ain’t got no problem with fighting all the big guys—[Oscar] de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton, the other African guy, the other guy who he fought with the title. I’m just saying he beat these guys, [Miguel] Cotto, he beat all these guys like they’re nothing. Pacquiao’s one of the biggest faggots on the planet,” said Mayweather Sr.

He stated, “My problem is, Bob Arum don’t call no f*cking shots. Bob Arum don’t call the shots. The fight can be made anytime they want the fight to be made. Little Floyd definitely ain’t scared of no Pacquiao. That’s the last thing in the world that little Floyd is scared of, a little Filipino midget. Definitely that’s not the case.”

He also said that the deadline snub is just Arum’s ploy to picture his son as the nemesis in the Mayweather-Pacquiao saga.

“Yes he’s trying to make little Floyd like bad but people already know what time of day it is. Of course, he’s trying to make little Floyd look bad because he’s with Pacquiao. When he was with my son he was trying to make him look good and everybody else look bad.”

Pacquiao (51-3-2, with 38 KOs) and Mayweather (40-0, with 25 KOs) were supposed to face off on March 13. Their rescheduled November 13 bout will most likely not push through as Arum is already eyeing to replace Floyd Jr. with Antonio Margarito of Mexico or Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico.

Floyd Sr. commented on the possible Pacquiao-Cotto rematch: “Why is he going to fight Cotto again? Why? All this is, is just a game. If you see what the whole thing is, Bob Arum is giving Cotto a title and then turning around and letting Pacman beat Cotto up again and take it again. That’s all it is. That’s all it is. It’s so plain to see a blind man can see that.”

Pacman-Floyd showdown next year?

Despite his negative statements against Pacquiao and Arum, Floyd Sr. did not eliminate the possibility of the dream super fight.

“Well you know, you can’t say that it won’t ever happen, but I’m really telling you right now I don’t believe it’s going to be this year. I don’t believe it’s going to be this year. I will tell you that,” stated Floyd Sr.

“I’m pretty sure if Pacquiao fights these guys [Cotto, Margarito] and beats them like he’s supposed to, I’m pretty sure that fight will go on if Pacquiao’s still around. If Pacquiao’s still around because I’m just saying all that stuff about the Congressman and all of that stuff. It’s a bunch of BS man. Who cares about that, man? To be a Congressman over millions and millions of dollars?—Please!”

But Floyd Sr. reiterated that if the Pacquiao-Mayweather bout will take place, his son should get the upper hand in the purse split. The Olympic-style drug testing should also be random, without the 14-day cutoff period demanded by Pacquiao.

“He knows he ain’t the best fighter and Bob Arum knows he ain’t the best fighter, too. So why should you belittle yourself and take less money than you’re supposed to?”

Meanwhile, the elder Mayweather said his son could return to the ring even if he announced that he was taking a break from the sport.

“I ain’t going to say that he won’t fight in 2010. He could fight in 2010 but then again he might not. I’m pretty sure he could fight somebody like, well I can’t even say. I just have to say that I believe he can have a fight but it won’t be a big, big fight like Manny Pacquiao. I just think that whenever they’re ready, little Floyd’s ready, believe me.”

Floyd Jr. remained unbeaten after scoring a unanimous decision victory over Shane Mosley on May 1. Pacquiao won his last bout on March 13 over Ghanaian Joshua Clottey by unanimous decision.

Source (and Image): abs-cbnnews.com

Yet.

Sadly, if there is going to be one, it almost certainly won’t be until May 2011. A Top Rank-imposed deadline of 11:59 p.m. Pacific on Friday for Mayweather to accept an offer on the table for a Nov. 13 fight with Pacquiao passed with nary a peep from Mayweather or his representatives.

The deadline, Arum said, was simply the end of an exclusive negotiation period for a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight.

He’ll begin to work later Saturday on reaching a deal for a Pacquiao fight with either Antonio Margarito, the former World Boxing Organization welterweight champion who in 2009 was suspended from boxing for a year by the California State Athletic Commission after getting caught with a plaster-like substance slipped into his hand wraps before a fight with Shane Mosley, or Miguel Cotto.

Neither fight will come anywhere close to creating the kind of sizzle and excitement that a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight would have created. Mayweather and Pacquiao have lapped the field and are the two best fighters and the two biggest stars in the world by a wide margin.

A fight between them could have sold three million pay-per-view purchases and made each man upwards of $60 million.

Pacquiao is going to have to take a significant pay cut to fight either Margarito or Cotto, which he can’t be pleased about. He likely wouldn’t make any more than about a quarter of what he would have made if he were fighting Mayweather, though Arum said on the call that he wouldn’t discuss that until after he speaks with Pacquiao.

The possibility of still doing a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight has to be one of the primary reasons that Arum struck an unusually conciliatory tone on Saturday. He urged the media not to lash out against Mayweather for failing to respond.

He speculated that the reason Mayweather may not want to make a decision yet is because his uncle, Roger Mayweather, goes on trial in a Las Vegas court room on Aug. 2 on charges that he assaulted a female boxer he once trained.

Roger Mayweather has been his nephew’s primary trainer for the last 10 years, and Arum conjectured that Mayweather wouldn’t want to fight without his uncle preparing him.

“Without knowing, I am sure that there is a very, very good reason that Floyd Mayweather has for not committing to a fight at this time,” Arum said, softly. “I really and truly believe that. Now I’m speculating, but one of the reasons could be the uncertainties regarding Roger Mayweather.

“People may not know Roger Mayweather is scheduled to go to court in Nevada regarding criminal charges. I know Manny would not want to go into a fight without the services of Freddie Roach. Presumably, Floyd feels the same way about going into a big fight like this without the services of his Uncle Roger.”

Nobody knows, though, because Mayweather has been silent. He hasn’t spoken publicly about the potential of a Pacquiao fight in months. Nor has his advisor, Al Haymon, who engaged in a bizarre negotiation with Arum in an attempt to make the fight despite the fact that neither man spoke to the other.

HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg was the middleman. Arum would speak to Greenburg, and Greenburg would carry Arum’s message to Haymon. In turn, Greenburg then delivered Haymon’s thoughts back to Arum.

Arum and Haymon ultimately came to a deal. Or at least Arum said they did on June 30, when he declared that there were no outstanding issues and that the only issue remaining was whether Mayweather would fight Pacquiao in November or in May 2011.

“I never talked to anybody from the Mayweather side and I never spoke to Floyd Mayweather,” Arum said. “I only spoke to Ross Greenburg, who reported to me certain things he had gotten from talking to Al Haymon.”

It didn’t matter if Arum agreed, or if Greenburg agreed, or if Haymon agreed. It only mattered if Mayweather agreed and, alas, not even the countdown clock that Top Rank president Todd duBoef decided to splash across the top of the company’s webpage on Thursday could force him to budge, or to even speak.

Arum said the deadline related to an exclusive negotiating period with Mayweather, so the essence of the 50-minute call was that a Mayweather fight could conceivably still happen this year. Don’t bet on it, though.

The promoter will speak with Pacquiao within the next several days to see who Pacquiao would prefer to fight. He’ll then begin to negotiate a contract with the opponent of Pacquiao’s choice. He said he thought he could reach a deal with either Cotto or Margarito within 10 days of opening talks.

He said he’d be open to a Mayweather fight if Mayweather came to him and accepted a deal before he reached terms with either Cotto or Margarito, but said that once he has a commitment from either Cotto or Margarito to take the fight with Pacquiao, a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight for 2010 would officially die.

Arum left open the door for a fight between the two in May 2011, assuming Pacquiao wins his November fight.

The whole thing had a funeral feeling about it.

Instead of seeing the two biggest stars and best fighters in the sport compete for the largest pot of money in boxing history, we’ll be left with either a rematch of a one-sided fight or with a bout against a guy who was caught trying to load his hand wraps.

Listening to Arum speak on the call knowing all this, it felt like boxing’s version of the Colts’ middle-of-the-night move in 1984 from Baltimore to Indianapolis.

The MGM Grand Garden Arena will almost certainly be the venue for bouts with either Margarito or Cotto. Arum said he has a venue in Monterrey, Mexico, lined up if Margarito can’t manage to get a boxing license in Nevada because of the incident with the hand wraps.

If Pacquiao chooses to fight Cotto, it will either be in Las Vegas or Cowboys Stadium in suburban Dallas.

As Arum ran through Pacquiao’s options without Mayweather, it occurred to me that, for fans, it would be like trying to buy tickets for a Yankees-Red Sox series with the division title on the line in September and winding up with seats to a Pirates-Astros game instead. It’s not a fair trade.

In boxing, it’s usually the fighters who take the punches, but not seeing a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight in November is going to feel like a punch in the gut for tens of millions of boxing fans who had hoped that maybe, just maybe, boxing would get it right for a change.

By: Kevin Iole
Source: sports.yahoo.com

While awaiting Mayweather’s decision — Arum told ESPN.com that Friday is the deadline — Michael Koncz and Arum on Monday discussed proposals for Pacquiao to fight former welterweight titlist Antonio Margarito or face Miguel Cotto in a rematch in the event Mayweather declines the Nov. 13 fight.

“We’re ready to go on with the Mayweather fight,” Arum said, “but we have to make contingency plans just in case and I don’t really want to talk about that too much. But Mayweather has until the end of the week. He could wait until the last minute. If it’s Friday and it’s 11 p.m., and he says we have a deal, we have a deal.”

Arum and Koncz said they were hopeful Mayweather would accept the deal, but that they had to be prepared in the event he doesn’t. Arum has said for weeks that Mayweather’s camp has a contract for the fight and that Pacquiao has accepted the terms, including provisions for drug testing (blood and urine) leading up to the bout.

When Pacquiao and Mayweather were negotiating during December and January for a fight in March, the talks fell apart when they could not come to an agreement on drug testing protocol.

Pacquiao then went on to easily outpoint Joshua Clottey to retain his welterweight title in March, while Mayweather dominated Shane Mosley in May.

“We’re waiting on Floyd,” Arum said. “He might not want to fight again this year. If he wants to say, ‘See you next year,’ there’s always next year. But I don’t think we can’t wait much longer for him to make up his mind because if we do the fight we want to make it as big as we can make it, and that takes time. I think Floyd will give us the courtesy of a response one way or the other. What that response will be, I really don’t know.

“That’s the fight we want and that’s the fight we’re in for, but if we can’t do that fight there are other opponents.”

Koncz and Arum wouldn’t go into specifics of the terms on the table for the fight with Mayweather but Koncz said “a 50-50 deal was proposed and there was no argument against it.”

Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, recently said that if the bout does not happen, Cowboys Stadium would host a Nov. 13 bout between Pacquiao and an undetermined opponent.

Koncz said Pacquiao wants to fight Mayweather, which would match the universally regarded top two fighters in boxing and one many believe would set pay-per-view and revenue records, but is prepared to move on.

“We don’t know what Mayweather is going to do. Last week, I had dinner with Cotto in Puerto Rico to see where he stands and he’s willing and able to do a rematch with Manny,” Koncz said. “Bob and I have spoken about both fights, Cotto and Margarito. Manny asked me to get proposals from Bob on both fights, so that’s what I am doing.

“We haven’t heard back from Floyd yet and if we don’t in the next few days, we will enter into a deal with one of the other fighters. Bob and I have spoken about both Cotto and Margarito. We will have a done deal and a signed contract for a fight by the end of this month, whoever it’s against — Mayweather, Cotto or Margarito.”

Pacquiao’s victory against Cotto netted him a title in a record seventh weight division. If he fights either Cotto or Margarito, Arum said Pacquiao will move up to the 154-pound junior middleweight division and fight for a belt in a record-extending eighth weight class. Pacquiao has already won titles at 112, 122, 126, 130, 135, 140 and 147 pounds.

If Pacquiao were to fight Cotto, Arum said he would challenge for Cotto’s WBA belt. After the loss to Pacquiao, Cotto bounced back by moving up in weight and stopping Yuri Foreman on June 5 to win a junior middleweight belt.

If Pacquiao were to fight Margarito, Arum said they would meet for the vacant WBC version of the title, which Sergio Martinez relinquished after he won the middleweight championship in April.

A potential fight with Margarito, however, is complicated by the fact that he is not licensed in the United States because of the 2009 scandal in which he attempted to wear loaded hand wraps for his eventual knockout loss to Mosley. Nevada regulators tabled Margarito’s application for a license last week and said it would not vote on it until Margarito first went before the California commission that revoked his license after last year’s incident.

Arum and Koncz both said that if the Margarito fight comes to fruition and he is still unlicensed in the United States, they would consider an international location.

“It would be nice to have the fight in Las Vegas, but we can fight anywhere,” Koncz said.

Pacquiao’s 12th-round knockout win against Cotto drew 1.25 million pay-per-view buys and generated $70 million in domestic television revenue. However a rematch, or one with Margarito, would probably be more of a hard sell compared to one with Mayweather. The hand-wrap scandal has tarnished Margarito’s reputation. Pacquiao’s fight with Cotto did big business but it had a definitive conclusion and a rematch is not a fight that fans are demanding.

By: Dan Rafael
Source: ESPN.com

“The question is whether Mayweather is willing to go into the ring this year. It’s up to him. His people would love him to do it. He may not want to do it. If Mayweather wants to fight in November, I believe the fight will be made,” Arum told Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports.

“To me it seems – it seems, and say that, because I’m not Mayweather – that the only issue is whether he wants to fight in November,” he continued.

Mayweather and Pacquiao both scored victories this year over Shane Mosley and Joshua Clottey, respectively.

“I think the only question is whether Mayweather is prepared to fight now,” said Arum. “He may say he’s had his fight for the year and that’s it and that we’ll address it again next year. He might say that. I don’t know. I don’t know. But that’s what I’m hypothesizing.”

Mayweather’s representative, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, only had a two-word reaction to Arum’s latest pronouncement: “No comment.”

Arum then said that if Mayweather refuses to fight for a second time this year, the Pacquiao-Mayweather mega fight would be held on May 2011.

Not as attractive

Arum also disclosed that issues on the purse split and drug testing have been ironed out.

“That’s all been resolved,” he stated. “I am not going to talk about the specifics of the negotiations. You have my statement that there are no real issues that I can see, except whether he wants to fight now or later or not at all.”

Team Pacquiao earlier revealed that Mexican Antonio Margarito and Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto are being eyed as possible opponents if the Mayweather bout does not push through.

“As far as I’m concerned, we have two guys [Margarito and Cotto] in the wings who could make attractive fights for Manny, though they are certainly not as attractive as a Mayweather fight,” Arum commented.

Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, said in a radio interview that he hopes his ward will finally get to clash with Mayweather.

“We obviously want Mayweather. He has a big mouth and we’re going to shut him up,” Roach told Bob McCown of The Fan 590 in Toronto.

“I talked to Bob Arum yesterday and he told me that he will know within a week if the deal is going to be done or not,” he added. – With reports from SportsRadioInterviews.com  and Yahoo! Sports

Source: abs-cbnnews.com