Don’t pay any attention to the reports (yet) — Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao is still not finished. Just like it wasn’t the last time, and just as we begged everyone to hold off on the rumors four months ago until things were actually based in fact.
But even as self-imposed deadlines have come and gone on multiple occasions, it’s important to keep in mind that the fight still isn’t late. In fact, based on the recent history of Mayweather announcing his Cinco de Mayo weekend fight dates, everything is more or less right on schedule.
Let’s take a look back at the past three years:
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- 2014: Mayweather vs. Maidana is confirmed on February 24th, for a May 3rd event. That’s a bit less than 10 weeks out from fight night.
- 2013: Mayweather vs. Guerrero is announced on February 19th, for a May 4th event. That’s about 10.5 weeks until fight night.
- 2012: Mayweather vs. Cotto is finalized on February 1st, for a May 5th event. That’s a full three months until fight night.
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The big date this year is on May 2nd, and today is February 15th. Yesterday would have been exactly 11 weeks until the fight night. That puts us right in the wheelhouse, at the very same time of year, when Mayweather’s spring fights were announced in both 2013 and 2014, and only lagging a bit behind 2012. In other words, I’d expect something imminent, one way or the other, within a few days.
Any Mayweather fight requires quite a bit of time for promotion, and Mayweather typically goes into training camp for a full two months. A fight of the magnitude of Mayweather vs. Pacquiao obviously requires that much more promotion and prep. The exhausting press tour would likely span the globe. That means if it’s going to happen, everyone on all sides knows it’s go time right now.
Mayweather vs. Pacquiao isn’t late, yet. But if it’s a week from today, Sunday the 22nd, and we still haven’t heard anything, then the event is once again dead and you should expect each man’s next fight to be against somebody else.
