Arum makes $45 million offer to Mayweather for Pacquiao fight; DeGale still with Warren; Soto-Matthysse on the table

By Michael Collins: Manny Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum had a bit of fun with WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Friday, offering him a flat payment of $45 million to fight Pacquiao presumably on June 9th, when Mayweather Jr. will be in jail serving his 90 day jail sentence, according to the Manila Standard.

The $45 million offer would exclude the pay per view revenue, which Arum would want Pacquiao to keep. If Mayweather were to agree to this deal, he would find himself receiving much less than Pacquiao, perhaps by as much as $20 to $30 million. The fight reportedly could bring in as much as $150 million. It’s hard to tell right now because the interest in the fight might not be as high when the two fighters eventually do fight in 2013 or beyond.

They’re not likely to fight in 2012 unfortunately, as Arum is already planning a big four-man tournament involving Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley, and Lamont Peterson vs. Juan Manuel Marquez. The finals of the tournament will take place in November, and that rules out a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight in 2012.

Arum told the Manila Standard “I am offering Mayweather $45 million under the same conditions he offered Pacquiao.”

The conditions aren’t quite the same. Mayweather offered Pacquiao $40 million in a lump sum. He feels that Pacquiao doesn’t deserve to get an even deal with him.

James DeGale still with Frank Warren

EBU super middleweight champion James DeGale miscalculated the amount of time left on his contract with Frank Warren Promotions when he reportedly spoke of leaving Warren on Friday. It’s unclear whether the 25-yeaar-old DeGale was serious or just wanting to send a message of unhappiness to Warren. Whatever the case, Frank Warren made it clear that he still has a contract with DeGale through April 14th of 2013.

There’s speculation in the media that DeGale might not have been happy that he was no longer the top super middleweight in Warren’s stable after Commonwealth super middleweight champion George Groves was signed by Warren last year. DeGale lost a fight to Groves and hasn’t been able to get a rematch since. Warren did a great job of getting DeGale a shot against EBU super middleweight champion Piotr Wilczewski last October, and DeGale responded by winning a narrow 12 round majority decision. You can’t say that Warren wasn’t looking out for DeGale because he immediately put him in a choice fight, but DeGale didn’t shine in that fight.

Indeed, he struggled badly and looked to have regressed even further from his performance in his bout against Groves. While DeGale has struggled, Groves’ star has shined ever brighter with an impressive 2nd round TKO victory over Paul Smith last November. Groves is scheduled to fight a rematch against Kenny Anderson on March 16th, and DeGale was supposed to be fighting on the undercard against Italy’s Cristian Sanavia. Perhaps DeGale didn’t like the idea of finding himself in a lower position on the same card. It seems that DeGale now won’t be fighting Sanavia and it’s unclear when he’ll be back in the ring to defend his EBU title.

Matthysse vs. Soto a possibility for April

According to RingTV, a fight between for two-division world champion Humberto Soto (57-7-2, 34 KO’s) and light welterweight contender Lucas Matthysse (29-2, 27 KO’s) is a possibility for April if Matthysse can win his next fight against Silverio Ortiz on February 10th. Soto, 31, has moved up to the light welterweight division and is already ranked higher than Matthysse at #2 WBC and #3 WBA. However, Soto needs a fight against Matthysse to get the attention of boxing fans, as Soto still hasn’t fought a credible light welterweight despite fighting two fights against guys that moved up in weight from lightweight to fight him.

Soto needs at least one fight against a real 140 pounder like Matthysse before he can get a title shot. Matthysse has suffered some bad breaks in the past two years, losing controversial decisions to Zab Judah and Devon Alexander in their home towns. To make things worse, Matthysse became ill two weeks before he was to fight Erik Morales for the vacant World Boxing Council light welterweight title last September and had to pull out of the fight. This was a perfect opportunity for Matthysse to win a title and instead it slipped through his fingers. Matthysse is now ranked #5 WBC, #6 WBO and #11 IBF and really needs a win over a fighter like Soto to get his career back in track. Soto will be a very tough customer for Matthysse, however, because he’s technically more skilled, throws punches from more angles and is a much busier fighter. Matthysse might have to knock Soto out to get a win over him because he’s not going to outwork him due to Matthysse’s average work rate.