Mayweather-Pacquiao back and forth negotiations

01/03/201501/02/2015 Rob Smith

Manny Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz says he’s still in negotiations with Floyd Mayweather Jr’s management for a fight between the two fighters. Mayweather has made an offer, and Konz, with the help of Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum, has made a counter offer to Mayweather. Unfortunately for the fans, we don’t know what Mayweather’s starting offer was and what the counter offer is from Arum and Konz.

It’s hard to imagine that Mayweather’s offer was a substantial one though because he doesn’t see Pacquiao as being in his class, and he’s well aware that Pacquiao’s pay-per-view numbers have been dropping in the last two years. Pacquiao losses to Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez don’t help matters either.

Leo Santa Cruz vs. Abner Mares possible for April

12/31/2014 Rob Smith

A fight between former three division world champion Abner Mares (28-1-1, 15 KOs) and WBC super bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (28-0-1, 16 KOs) is a possibility for April of 2015, according to Steve Kim. This would be a good fight, and it would partially make up for Santa Cruz’s mismatch against Jesus Ruiz (33-5-5, 22 KOs) on January 17th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ruiz is ranked #14 WBC in the featherweight division. Ruiz appears to be an easy mark for Santa Cruz after his last easy fight against an overmatched Manuel Roman last September.

Cotto’s adviser says $40 million offer to fight Mayweather is false

12/30/2014 Rob Smith

Gaby Penagaricano, the adviser for WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto, says that the rumor of Cotto receiving a $40 million offer to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr is false. There was no such offer made. On Sunday, there was a rumor that Mayweather’s adviser Al Haymon had offered Cotto $40 million to fight Mayweather next.

It was a crazy rumor because there was no way that an offer of that size would work given the huge $30 million+ that Mayweather typically gets for his fights. A rematch between Cotto and Mayweather wouldn’t bring in over 2 million buys like the Mayweather vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight, and it would be lucky to do more than 1 million pay-per-view buys, because a lot of boxing fans would likely not be interested in seeing a second fight between them.

Quillin sees Golovkin fight as not worth the risk

12/28/2014 Rob Smith

If you were hoping to see former WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin (31-0, 22 KOs) face WBA 160 pound champion Gennady Golovkin in the near future, you might want to forget about it. Quillin, 31, said that Golovkin is too high of a risk without much of a reward right now because the money isn’t there.

Quillin wants to fight guys that bring him good money, and in the case of Golovkin it wouldn’t bring the kind of money that it might later on. Quillin acknowledges that Golovkin has a big name right now, but he thinks that his name doesn’t bring the big money yet.

De La Hoya eager to make Cotto-Canelo fight

12/27/2014 Rob Smith

While it’s looking like the May 2nd fight between WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez might not get made, Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions is still very eager with hope that the fight can still get made. De La Hoya believes the Cotto-Canelo fight is the second biggest fight that can be made behind only the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Manny Pacquiao fight.

De La Hoya believes that a fight between Canelo and Cotto will attract a lot of women. It’s unclear just how many women it would attract and why. Presumably, De La Hoya feels that the Cotto-Canelo fight would attract a lot of women because of the 24-year-old Canelo. However, if the women that the fight attracts don’t live in the United States then it really won’t matter that it’s attracting women, because the idea is for the fight to bring in a ton of pay-per-view buys on HBO.

Rios thinks Mayweather is name dropping to increase his popularity

12/22/2014 Rob Smith

Former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios is extremely skeptical that a fight between the two biggest stars in boxing Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao will take place in 2015. Rios says he’ll believe it when he sees the two fighters in the ring.

Rios says he’s suspicious of Mayweather’s motives for suddenly saying he’s interested in the Pacquiao fight. Rios thinks that one of the reason why Mayweather is mentioning a fight against Pacquiao right now is perhaps an effort for Mayweather to boost his name value. Rios thinks Mayweather is afraid that his name is dying and that by mentioning Pacquiao, he could be raising his name.

Arum: 48 million homes in China watched Pacquiao-Algieri

12/20/2014 Rob Smith

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says that 48 million homes in China watched the mismatch between Arum’s fighter Manny Pacquiao and little known Chris Algieri last November in their fight from Macao, China. The fight was painfully one-sided from start to finish with Pacquiao beating the hapless Algieri like a drum.

It wasn’t one of the more interesting fights to watch if you’re a fan of competitive matches, but then again we knew it was going to be a mismatch going in so it wasn’t a surprise.

Arum: Mayweather is poaching the Mexican holiday

12/20/2014 Rob Smith

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has no interest whatsoever in staging the mega fight between his fighter Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr on the Mexican holiday on May 2nd. According to Arum, he sees this as disrespectful to the Mexican people that Mayweather wants to fight on the May 2nd date, which is the Cinco de Mayo holiday.

Arum sees that May 2nd date belonging to Mexican fighter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who was not long ago easily beaten by Mayweather. The idea is Canelo will fight Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto on the May 2nd date instead of Mayweather fighting Pacquiao. Arum promotes Cotto, so it’s a win-win situation for him if that fight goes ahead on May 2nd. Arum prefers the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight to take place in April or June of next year.

Mayweather Sr: Khan fights like a washer woman

12/19/2014 Rob Smith

Trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr says he wasn’t impressed with what he saw from Amir Khan in his recent 12 round decision win over Devon Alexander last Saturday night. Floyd Sr says that Khan fought like a woman due to the way he would flail with his arms when coming forward to throw his combinations.

To Floyd Sr, Khan looked like a wild woman, and he saw it as a very undisciplined manner to be fighting. With that said, Floyd Sr still thinks that Khan would present more of a problem for his son Floyd Mayweather Jr than someone like Manny Pacquiao. Floyd Sr thinks that Khan’s high work rate would be more difficult than Pacquiao’s one punch at a time style of landing punches.

Cotto waiting to hear back from Canelo’s side in negotiations

12/19/2014 Rob Smith

WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto says he recently detailed what he’s looking for to make money wise for his fight against the red-haired Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on May 2nd. He’s now waiting to hear back from his side to see what they say about it.

The Cotto-Canelo fight, if it gets made, will be televised on HBO pay-per-view, and it’s expected to be a huge money fight where both fighters will likely get a career payday if everything goes right.