The Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. mega-fight, apart from being the richest boxing bout in the history of sports, shall also be a unification bout for the three welterweight titles at stake from different boxing organizations.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the welterweight champion for the WBA and the WBC while Manny Pacquiao is the welterweight champion for the WBO. Both fighters will be staking all their titles for the mega-fight, cites Yahoo! News from a Philippine Star report.
The mega-fight will be happening on May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas following the official announcement of Floyd Mayweather Jr. on February 21.
Kept mum about the whole negotiations
Before his personal meeting with Floyd Mayweather Jr. on January 27 first at the American Airlines Arena during the Miami Heat game against the Milwaukee Bucks and then at a hotel in Miami where he is billeted, Manny Pacquiao was very aggressive on egging Money to accept his challenge for the world’s most anticipated boxing bout.
But after the meeting, the Filipino boxing icon seems to have taken the request or condition requested by Mayweather that they should not be talking about the fight until after all the negotiations and terms have already been agreed upon.
So except for Top Rank chief Bob Arum who really likes talking as if he has a say on the negotiations, the Pacman has decided to keep his mouth shut in the ongoing negotiations and discussions about the multi-million dollar fight with Mayweather.
Just wait for the announcement
Pacquiao was met by a horde of questions from sportswriters when he returned to the Philippines almost two weeks ago and resumed his coaching job with the Kia Carnival basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association, notes GMA News.
Instead of asking questions about his basketball team, regarded as mediocre in Philippine professional basketball league, reporters queried him instead about updates on the negotiations with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his camp for their mega-buck fight.
Unlike before when Pacquiao was very outspoken about how he feels for the match and how he keeps on egging Floyd Jr. to sign the agreement and fight, Manny Pacquiao was a picture of calm and composure during the interview.
He just said to Philippine sports journalists that they should all just wait for the announcement of the fight.
Thus, it is most likely that the change in Pacman from being an outspoken challenger to a waiting boxer is most likely due to the conditions requested of him by Mayweather during their one-on-one meeting.
An indication that the fight will happen
Since Pacquiao said that the local journalists and the Philippine public just wait for the announcement of the fight, it is most likely that the bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr. is really going to happen this year. The announcement of Floyd Jr. has made it official.
While Pacquiao was waiting for Mayweather’s announcement, he kept himself busy with self-training and also preoccupying himself with basketball. The Pacquiao-Mayweather fight also does not come with a rematch clause so it is likely that each boxer will just settle for one fight each this year. Considering the huge amount of money that each will be getting from the fight, they actually don’t need to do another fight for the year as their customary schedule of two fights a year would.