By Michael Collins: Floyd Mayweather Jr. was supposed to have made an announcement about his opponent for his next fight this past week but he’s purposely been waiting to see if he can the guy he wants WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao to step and take the fight on May 5th. Mayweather may have to give up soon, though, and pick his Plan B opponent, likely WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez, because Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum seems to have something holding him back from making the fight.
Mayweather will wait a longer and keep pressuring Arum to make the fight. Earlier today, Mayweather let Arum know who to contact to start the negotiations. Mayweather did this because Arum had recently said more than once that he didn’t have a clue who is representing Mayweather and that he couldn’t start negotiations unless he know that info. That was one of the stranger excuses that Arum gave, although the other ones weren’t much better.
Here are some of the excuses Arum had made:
* Pacquiao’s cut won’t be healed by May 5th
* The outside 40,000 seat arena won’t be ready in time
* Mayweather might not get his boxing license by the Nevada State Athletic Commission
Mayweather’s adviser Leonard Ellberbe told mlive.com “We’re waiting on Bob Arum to show interest in the fight. The fans have grown tired of the lame excuses. One week it’s the cut; another week it’s a new venue; another week it’s that he [Arum] doesn’t know who to talk to. The list goes on and on.”
The person who can end all this is Pacquiao but he doesn’t appear to be interested in standing up and forcing the fight to be negotiated. He’s under contract with Top Rank, but he ultimately decides on who to fight or not to fight. It’s not just Arum. All this frustration could be over in a minute if Pacquiao were to take charge and lead. But he seems satisfied with the status quo.