Left-Hook Lounge Mailbag: Mayweather/Pacquiao, Cotto, Garcia, & Guerrero/Thurman!

02/06/201502/05/2015 Vivek Wallace

Chris H. (Dallas, TX): Reports have spread that Miguel Cotto will be announcing his next opponent in a week or so. What are the odds that Floyd Mayweather has opted to face him instead of Pacquiao at this time? And if not, do you think the Pacquiao fight gets done?

Vivek W. (ESB): All eyes in and around the sport remain locked on Mayweather and Pacquiao. I’ve said from day one that there are more layers to this mess than meets the eye, and as time goes on, we’re reminded of exactly how complex these negotiations are. Years ago, these two men stood to make two incredibly healthy pay checks. Despite Pacquiao being knocked out and on the losing end a few times, the demand for this fight is even greater now than it’s ever been, which may actually have a lot to do with why the fight can’t seem to be made.

Mayweather: If a Pacquiao fight happens, it must be on Showtime PPV

09/14/2014 Rob Smith

(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) Last night, WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (47-0, 26 KOs) put on a master class performance in defeating Marcos Maidana (35-5, 31 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision in an action-packed fight from start to finish at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Maidana gave it his all, but Mayweather’s ability to avoid his huge power shots was the key to victory for Mayweather.

After the fight, Mayweather was asked if he would be interested in facing WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather said that Pacquiao first needs to get past Chris Algieri in November, but then other than that, he’ll need to agree to fight on Showtime pay-per-view and Mayweather Promotions would be the one doing the fight, not Top Rank, the promoters for Pacquiao. Either of those two things are likely more than enough for the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight not to happen, but with both of them in place, it’s not likely there will be a fight between them unless Mayweather changes his mind.

The Mayweather-Pacquiao Business Paradox

08/27/201408/26/2014 Bill Barner

In 1964 Walter Neale presented the Louis-Schmeling paradox. Named after two World War II-era heavyweight champions, the Louis-Schmeling paradox describes sports business as different from any other business when it comes to the potential benefit of a monopoly.

Generally speaking, monopoly is the ideal market position of any given business. Under a monopoly, competition is either comparatively weak or non-existent. This position allows the dominant business to absorb the lion’s share of potential customers. However, the same position is detrimental to a prize fighter. As the old adage “it takes two to tango” implies, Joe Louis could not sell out a big fight venue without formidable competition such as Max Schmeling.

Mayweather/Pacquiao: Will It Ever Happen?

06/09/201406/08/2014 Benjamin Varella

The world is waiting for the most anticipated fight of our time, the clash of the titans in Floyd “Money” Mayweather the pound for pound king and Fighter of the Decade Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao”. But the question is, will it ever happen?

Fans around the world hungers for a mega-fight that could well reinstate boxing back to its glory days more so if the two soon hall of fame boxers agree to its terms for the much awaited fight.

Boxing’s popularity have declined in the past years while counterpart MMA’s popularity skyrocketed and is currently at its height.

Mayweather Jr. to fight Pacquiao on May 7th, 2016?

04/16/2014 Enlightened-One

I recently read an article that quoted Manny Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, claiming that if the eagerly-awaited Mayweather-Pacquiao super-fight does happen, it could be as a career finale for both men.

During the Pacquiao-Bradley II post-fight interview with Larry Merchant of HBO Boxing, Manny stated that he thought he had two years left as a professional boxer, which means his career would come to a close around May 2016.

Intriguingly, Mayweather has three more contests remaining on his contract with Showtime beyond the Maidana bout. Assuming that Floyd remains undefeated and fights every May & September each year, his final bout under the Showtime banner would be September 2015… and a victory on that date would equal Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 professional record.

Pac Dares Floyd: “Let’s Fight For Charity”

01/19/201401/19/2014 Reni M. Valenzuela

Things have been clear to the clear minded, but if the latest word from Manny Pacquiao won’t untangle “clutters” in the minds of the “wise” and “confused,” what else can?

Pacquiao has long assured he is ready and willing to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. anytime, anywhere. And just hours ago he told the Manila based Philippine Daily Inquirer: “I’m not desperate to fight Floyd just for the sake of money… I’m not the one seeking this fight rather it’s the boxing fans all over the world.”

Absolutely.

The Filipino icon stressed in the same phone conversation with Inquirer: “I am ready to submit myself to any kind of stringent drug testing. Above all, I challenge Mayweather to include in our fight contract that both of us will not receive any single cent out of the fight. We will donate all the proceeds – guaranteed prize, gate receipts, pay-per-view and endorsements – to charities around the world.”

Why Floyd should retire if he won’t fight Pacquiao this year

01/18/201401/17/2014 Reni M. Valenzuela

Some pundits still don’t get it. The fight is a big deal for the fans not just because it interests them but because the fans want truth and they are resolved to prevent “stars” and “bigwigs” from further tricking them and the sport. If you think otherwise, then yours is a hopeless case perhaps.

No person ever solves a problem by looking only at his own concern. Even a hermit in a secluded island can’t do that.

It’s not that the fans are dying to see the mega bout happen for their consumption and pleasure. They want to work out a solution to the controversies, silliness, rottenness and idiocy in the sport surrounding Mayweather and Pacquiao. And to determine who between the two rivals is the better boxer to end endless debates. Any justification to negate such logic boils down to jerk musing, if not blind fanaticism.

Roach: Showtime/CBS will make Mayweather fight Pacquiao

01/09/2014 Jeff Sorby

Trainer Freddie Roach is thinking that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be making a mistake if he fights Amir Khan next, because he sees that as a fight that will lose money for Showtime/CBS. Roach believes that Mayweather needs to maximize the money he makes with his last 4 fights on his Showtime/CBS contract, and the way to do that is to fight Manny Pacquiao.

“Showtime/CBS is in the business to make money,” Roach said to Radio Raheem. “They want fights like Pacquiao-Mayweather to be profitable. I think they need to make that fight happen. I think they will make Mayweather make that fight. We’ve accepted everything with the drug testing, so I don’t think there’s any more excuses for him not to fight us.”

Is Arum Holding Mayweather Jr. vs. Pacquiao Fight Back? Roach Disagrees

08/01/201401/09/2014 Vitali Shaposhnikov

roach67 Over the past few years, performance enhancing drugs and money have been claimed to be the leading causes of preventing the Mayweather Jr. vs. Pacquiapo showdown form taking place.

For some time Mayweather Jr. was confident that his gut feeling of Manny Pacquaio using PEDs was, well, not a just gut feeling at all. He blatantly claimed that there is no way that a fighter can go up in weight so fast, while experiencing no decline in speed or power. After some time, both fighters ended up across the phone line, trying to come to some sort of an agreement, which ended fruitlessly, with Pacquiao asking for more money than Floyd was willing to pay.

Mayweather exposes Pacquiao fight rumors as false

07/31/201401/02/2014 Kevin Chittenden

Floyd Mayweather Jr. says that rumors of him supposedly fighting Manny Pacquiao in September or nothing more than a lie. He has no plans in fighting Pacquiao. The rumors have also been dismissed by Pacquiao’s personal adviser Michael Koncz as being false. It would seem that some site jumped the gun and decided to come up with news of the Mayweather-Pacquiao mega fight without fact.

Pacquiao and Mayweather will likely go in different directions career-wise until either Mayweather becomes more open to working with Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank or until Pacquiao leaves Arum and goes with another promoter. I’m not holding my breath waiting for either of those things to happen. Mayweather doesn’t need to change his mind because he’s making good money fighting all the Golden Boy Promotions fighters, and Pacquiao is making a good living fighting Arum’s Top Rank fighters one after another.