By Kirk Jackson
Floyd Mayweather engaging in his usual routine of trash talking, but adding some holiday cheer to his latest series of disrespect aimed towards Manny Pacquiao. He even went as far as to make a customized Christmas card.
Not one to scrooge around, Pacquiao’s long time trainer Freddie Roach also appears to be in the holiday spirit.
Colorful banter has existed between trainers Freddie Roach and Floyd Mayweather Sr. the past couple years or so with Sr. referring to Roach as, “Freddie the joke Roach” and in return Roach comparing Sr. to the predator species from the “Alien vs. Predator” franchise.
With Sr. back training his son again, this makes the dynamic that much more intriguing.
Much to the dismay of many fans with a keen eye on the sport of boxing, Floyd Mayweather Jr. recently announced he had no intentions of fighting Pacquiao. Yes leaving the dream match absolutely crushed and many fans extremely pissed off at Floyd Mayweather.
This may be the beginning of a well orchestrated plan. We all know that…
There is a long withstanding beef between Mayweather and Arum and a well documented grudge between Arum and former employee and former boxer who is now owner of Golden Boy Promotions, Oscar De La Hoya.
Top Rank Promoter Bob Arum was never eager to make the match between Mayweather and Pacquiao, but it appears now more than ever Pacquiao and his trainer Roach want to make the fight happen.
With his recent IRS woes, The Pacman wants to get reel in the big bucks and rightfully so, he paid his dues, and we all know he will earn the most money fighting Mayweather. Financially speaking, there isn’t a wide variety of lucrative options for him.
He’s not fighting Sergio Martinez or Miguel Cotto. Martinez is too big, Cotto won’t go back down to welterweight and he and Pacquiao now share the same trainer Freddie Roach.
Timothy Bradley is a great fighter, but not a pay-per-view attraction. Marquez has ppv marketability, but we’ve seen the tale between he and Pacquiao too many times, as it has reflected on the decrease of ppv buys between the two and it would be nearly impossible to top the last outing.
The bout with Brandon Rios did 475,000 ppv buys which isn’t great if we are holding Pacquiao to the golden goose standard and he will not do any better numbers with anyone else within the Top Rank stable.
All of the other prominent fighters are with Golden Boy promotions and it’s unlikely they would do any deals with Pacquiao.
That is the motivation for wanting to face Mayweather. There has a been a great deal of flirtation with this fight in the past and of course there is the huge cash pay out; A supposed $40 million dollar option he had available a couple years ago.
Despite a comeback victory this past November against Rios and magically being ranked No.1 by the WBC for Floyd’s welterweight title, Pacquiao still has not necessarily earned a fight boxing’s top money maker.
There are still some loose ends that need to be tied up and interest can still be gathered to build up a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao and in turn generating more money for both fighters. How the money is distributed is another question.
Mayweather has the likely options of fighting Pacquiao, Marcos Maidana or Amir Khan in May 2014. Maybe even add Paulie Malignaggi to the mix.
Floyd can fight Pacquiao now or…
Deny ever having any intention to fight Pacquiao, yet continue to disrespect him and cause a legion of fans to become irritated. Bring attention by causing controversy, as he does not care if the fans do not like him anyways and fans are manipulated by certain media outlets regardless.
Create an outcry, continue with the case of cause or demand for the fight, build up the hype machine and in September 2014 if Mayweather presumably has gotten past whoever his opponent will be in May (preferably Marcos Maidana) and if Pacquiao has defeated whoever his slated opponent is in April (preferably Timothy Bradley), then that would make the fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather that much more greater and meaningful.
It would also be a crazy curve-ball no one would see coming.