By Michael Collins: The chances of a fight between WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao and WBC welterweight champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. taking place in 2012 appear to be dwindling with each day that goes by.
Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is chomping at the bit to put together a four fighter tournament that will keep his fighter Pacquiao busy for the entire year facing other guys, some of them Top Rank fighters. Unfortunately, the tournament will get in the way of a potential November fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer wasn’t surprised in the least by the news of Arum’s four fighter tourney, saying to RingTV “The only time that Arum is going to put Pacquiao in with Floyd is when Pacquiao is at the end of his career. I think that’s going to be sometime in the second half of 2013. If Pacquiao keeps winning, that’s when I think the fight will happen.”
I wish I could disagree with what Schaefer is saying because boxing fans want to see Mayweather vs. Pacquiao and they don’t want to wait until Pacquiao is ready for his rocking chair and on his last legs before that happens. It seems kind of obvious that Arum will keep matching Pacquiao up against the likes of Miguel Cotto and other Top Rank fighters until Pacquiao starts to stumble badly each time out. Pacquiao is making over $20 million to fight the guys that Arum has been putting him in with, and these are technically world class opposition so it’s not like Pacquiao is facing scrubs each time. But with that kind of money to be made against guys that Pacquiao has an excellent chance of beating; Arum will likely keep putting him in with them until the bitter end.
If Mayweather is still around when Pacquiao loses it in the future, so be it but I don’t think Arum is going to lose any sleep in the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight not being made if Pacquiao is able to make that kind of cash against lesser fighters. If Arum can get another 5-10 fights out of Pacquiao, he’ll do really well.
Schaefer looking for Khan’s next opponent for April or May
Former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-2, 18 KO’s) may not be getting the rematch against IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KO’s) despite the best efforts from Khan’s promoter Golden Boy to force Peterson to give him a rematch. Golden Boy Promotions found out the hard way that trying to force Peterson to give him another fight isn’t working all that well, so they’ve changed their tactics by offering him a 50-50 cut of the revenue, which includes the UK pay per view money.
But that’s not doing the trick either, as Bob Arum of Top Rank Promotions, is trying to sign Peterson up for his four fighter tournament that starts with Peterson facing Juan Manuel Marquez in the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas in April. Manny Pacquiao will also be in the hypothetical tournament facing Timothy Bradley. If Peterson can get by Marquez, which won’t be easy, then the chances would be very high that Peterson will be meeting up with Pacquiao in the finals of the tourney in November.
Richard Schaefer, the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, told RingTV that Peterson won’t make as much money fighting Marquez as he would in a rematch against Khan. This may be true for this one fight, but it’s a gamble that Peterson might be willing to take because if he can beat the soon to be 39-year-old Marquez, Peterson will be a big payday fight against likely Pacquiao in November that would dwarf the money that Peterson would get in a fight against Khan.
As for Khan’s next fight, Schaefer told RingTV “He’s [Khan] a very exciting fighter and the networks are after him like there’s no tomorrow. Amir will be in a big fight and that’s all I’m going to say at this point.”
It looks like Schaefer has an ace up his sleeve that he’s not talking about. I suppose it’s kind of a subjective thing whether Khan’s next fight will be a big one like Schaefer says. The opponent that’s being mentioned for Khan right now is 40-year-old Shane Mosley, and I personally don’t consider that a big fight, but maybe Schaefer does. I think it’s one of those types of fights where you’ve got a vulnerable fringe star in Khan facing an over the hill fighter in Mosley in order to protect Khan from losing again. Khan has already lost twice now and it’s starting to look like the big dreams that Golden Boy had for hi aren’t going to pan out. If he can’t beat guys like Peterson and Breidis Prescott, then Khan won’t be a future pay per view star.
Juan Manuel Marquez says he’ll fight Peterson if he can get fourth fight against Pacquiao
Former three division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez (53-6-1, 39 KO’s) says he’ll agree to fight IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KO’s) in April in the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas if he can get a fourth fight against Manny Pacquiao after that, according to RingTV. Marquez, 38, wants a guarantee that he’ll get the Pacquiao rematch before he’ll sign on the dotted line for the Peterson fight.
This could a deal breaker, though, because it doesn’t appear that Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum wants to match him back up against Marquez after Pacquiao’s close call against the nearly 40-year-old Marquez last November. Pacquiao won the fight but few boxing fans agreed with the decision by three judges, and a fourth fight between them could be even worse for Pacquiao. Above all, Arum wants to keep Pacquiao winning and keep the money rolling in. Marquez could be too much of a threat to stop the Pacquiao gravy train with his counter punching ability and mastery over Pacquiao.
Marquez told RingTV “I told Fernando [Beltran, Marquez’s promoter] that I will only sign the contract if you give me the fight with Manny. I won’t sign the contract if you won’t give me the fourth fight with Manny Pacquiao.”
That puts Arum in a tough position here because he really needs Marquez for his four fighter tournament to fight Peterson, because Arum doesn’t have any one else that boxing fans in Texas would care to see. Arum needs a Mexican fighter to take advantage of the large Mexican community in the Texas area that would likely flock to the Cowboys Stadium to see Marquez fight. Arum can’t use Antonio Margarito because he’s too big and it would hurt Margarito to have to drain down to fight Peterson. And Peterson, a slender light welterweight, would have problems if he had to gain weight to fight Margarito.