Manny Pacquiao reluctantly will look for another opponent for his next bout after promoter Bob Arum’s deadline for a deal with Floyd Mayweather Jr. passed Saturday without a word from Mayweather.
In the latest improbable twist in the torturous negotiations for the most tantalizing prospective fight in boxing, Arum said Mayweather’s camp simply hasn’t responded to a contract proposal with no obvious points of contention.
Pacquiao already has agreed to extensive drug testing and an equitable split of the earnings from what’s likely to be the richest fight in boxing history.
“Floyd, for whatever reason — and I’m sure he has some valid reason — didn’t want to commit,” Arum said.
Although Arum was careful not to criticize Mayweather, saying the fighter who calls himself “Money” could take the incredibly lucrative offer at any point in the next week or so, Arum plans to open discussions with Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto for a fight with Pacquiao in November.
“(Pacquiao vs. Mayweather) is dead when we conclude a deal for Manny’s fight in November,” Arum said. “Then we’re contractually bound to that fight, and we would look to do a deal with Floyd for next year.
“If Floyd emerged and said he wanted to do the fight (in November), then there would be nothing opposed to doing the fight.”
Arum claims he couldn’t wait any longer to start the time-consuming process of putting together a fight for Pacquiao, whose personal schedule has tightened up with his election to congress in his native Philippines this year.
Arum said Top Rank needs several months to put together television deals and publicity tours for the bout.
Pacquiao and Mayweather are their sport’s top two stars, and a meeting likely would be worth more than $40 million to each fighter. They have discussed a bout for several months since Mayweather’s return from a brief retirement, but haven’t made a deal.
Although he hasn’t spoken directly to Mayweather, Arum believes the former pound-for-pound champion might be reluctant because of the legal woes of Roger Mayweather, his uncle and longtime trainer.
Roger Mayweather will go on trial in Las Vegas next month on assault charges stemming from an altercation with a female boxer last year.
“It would be a shame if it didn’t happen, but I don’t think (anybody) should be too harsh on Floyd in this situation,” Arum said. “I would have liked him to communicate, but I really believe that this issue with the uncle has an effect.”
