Floyd Mayweather Calls Manny Pacquiao… “GASP!”
By now, everyone has heard about the Mayweather-Pacquiao phone call, which shook the world to its core. It has been all over the news, it’s been receiving full coverage on ESPN Sportscenter and much more. The last time a Mayweather phone call made such a stir, he picked up a “phone” made from cash, and talked to his buddy 50 Cent to the delight/dismay of 24/7 viewers. But whoa, this time he called Pacquiao directly, taking things even further from his Twitter bait line of “Step up Punk.”
Does the fact that Floyd Mayweather called Manny Pacquiao mean anything about the likelihood of making the fight? Do the details of the conversation mean much for solidifying some negotiating sticking points? Well…
Probably not.
For one thing, according to the reports of what Manny Pacquiao told a Filipino television station on Thursday, he agreed to do a 50/50 split on the fight. However, according to Mayweather in a recent statement of his own, he still may be unwilling to do a 50/50 split. So, again, it comes down to which source you’re trusting, and when.
Furthermore, Bob Arum already has said that Pacquiao’s next opponent is basically a done deal for June 9th, and it’s not Mayweather. Arum has had his own agenda throughout the ongoing negotiations – the ongoing utter failure to put the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight together – and he’s sticking to his story, phone calls be damned.
Pacquiao might say he’s taking a few days to make up his mind, but his mind has apparently been made up for him already. Pacquiao has proven that he basically does what his promoter, Bob Arum, tells him to do. Until we see something different, that’s an assumption we’ll have to continue making.
Further, Arum has been downplaying the phone call, what it was all about, and its significance. According to Ring TV, Arum said that Mayweather didn’t call Pacquiao directly, he called adviser Michael Koncz, and Pacquiao just happened to be there so they got on the phone together briefly. The significance of the call, according to Arum? Meh, not so much…
“The clock is ticking, and that’s not good, so we need time to get this thing done, and, you know, the end of May is really rushing it. Maybe Mayweather can get a further postponement from the judge, because it’s so big. Or maybe they can each do an interim fight, and we can get together and do the fight in November, but what’s going on now is totally and completely ridiculous.
It’s absolutely ridiculous. These statements back and forth and this and that, it’s crazy, and it doesn’t make any sense. Again, it is what it is. The point is that everybody should relax, and we should do what’s in the best interest for the fighters and the fans and all of boxing, and that is to have sufficient time to do a promotion and an event that boxing can be proud of.”
What boxing and fans of boxing want is …. SEEING THE FIGHT. Now.
Not Bob Arum putting together a promotion that we would be “proud” of. Which, by the way, means a promotion that milks every last cent imaginable from us, and makes him as much money as is physically possible.
The only other thing boxing fans want is to be done with this absurd drama. If I can agree with Bob Arum on anything, it’s that the entire saga has been “ridiculous”.
So what does the Mayweather to Pacquiao phone call mean? Who freakin’ knows, but with Arum calling the shots, regardless of Mayweather calling Pacquiao, the Pacquiao vs. Mayweather fight in May still appears quite dead.
