By Ivan G. Goldman
Floyd Mayweather’s Twitter feed late today started sending out encouraging bulletins on the possibility of making a deal to establish the May 2 welterweight showdown much of the world wants.
“I set up this meeting with Manny Pacquiao to get this fight done,” reads part of the latest message, “but they continue to tell the public it’s us and that’s NOT TRUE. So while we wait y’all go TELL A FRIEND to download Shots ASAP so I can keep you all updated on the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight, that we are trying to make happen.”
In this tweet, Floyd directs readers to an Instagram site where you can find a photo of him and Pacquiao, presumably taken in a hotel room after they met last week in Miami with an eye toward putting the event together.
— Floyd Mayweather (@FloydMayweather) February 5, 2015
Floyd directs readers to https://shots.com/floydmayweather/ and other sites he controls.
Mayweather’s denial that it’s “us” standing in the way may refer to a recent short statement from HBO Sports asking the “principals” to make the event happen. This was essentially a denial of the charge that the networks HBO and Showtime couldn’t come to an agreement. Pacquiao has a contract with HBO and Mayweather has one with Showtime. A joint telecast was under discussion.
Bob Arum, who promotes Pacquiao, said two of four issues remain to be resolved and that one of the solved issues is how to put together a joint broadcast. Apparently Stephen Espinoza, chief of Showtime Sports, isn’t so certain all TV issues have been solved.
Apparently the networks have yet to settle precisely which personalities will be on the final roster. Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times contends the tentative list includes Al Bernstein, Jim Gray, Max Kellerman, and Jim Lampley. None of that is surprising.
Mayweather’s mysterious adviser/manager Al Haymon refuses to talk to the press. It’s believed he never meets personally with his fighters either, but they generally don’t talk about him except when they’re praising him and God after a fight.
The Mayweather-Pacquiao match has been on and off for years. Mayweather turns 38 in less than three weeks. Pacquiao is 36. Mayweather has been ranked as the top fighter in the world pound for pound for years.
Keep your fingers crossed.
New York Times best-selling author Ivan G. Goldman’s Sick Justice: Inside the American Gulag was released in 2013 by Potomac Books. Watch for The Debtor Class: A Novel from Permanent Press in spring, 2015. More information here.