Floyd Mayweather mentions Manny Pacquiao's name, but interview offers little hope
It was a first step -- a tiny, insignificant first step -- but at least Floyd Mayweather spoke about Manny Pacquiao in an interview during a boxing card on Showtime on Friday. Mayweather's self-serving words really were not new and shouldn't cause fans to begin planning travel arrangements to see the fight.
If I had to guess, the fight is still not going to happen.
Oh, Mayweather mentioned Pacquiao's name and that in and of itself is a step in the right direction. But he took none of the blame for there being no substantive negotiations for years, and he put on conditions that seem designed more to paint Pacquiao as the bad guy rather than really come to an agreement.
Frankly, it's getting wearisome listening not only to his nonsense but also the way that Showtime babies Mayweather.
He was predictably asked a series of softball questions, but wasn't asked once about Earl Hayes or Stephanie Moseley. Mayweather was talking via FaceTime with Hayes, a rap artist and one of his close friends, when Hayes reportedly murdered Mosley, his wife, and then shot himself to death. Mayweather spoke to Los Angeles police about what his conversation with Hayes was, but he wasn't asked once about it on Showtime.
That, though, is more Showtime's failing rather than Mayweather's.
Mayweather is more at fault for the way he's handled these negotiations. Yes, he's the top fighter and the No. 1 draw in the world, but it takes two men to make the biggest fight of all-time and he conveniently ignores that.
During Friday's interview, he laid all of the blame for the fight not happening and the lack of negotiations at the feet of Pacquiao and his promoter, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum. While both of them need to accept their share of blame, Mayweather deserves an equal, if not larger amount.
He said in the interview that he would no longer agree to pay Pacqiuao $40 million for the fight, because Pacquiao lost twice since he made that offer. The fight will do an extraordinary pay-per-view business, double or triple the number that three of the four fights he's done under his Showtime contract have done.
Just like Canelo Alvarez deserves significant credit for his fight with Mayweather hitting 2.2 million sales, so, too, would Pacquiao deserve credit for what looms as the richest fight in history. It would easily surpass 2 million sales and estimates are it would gross $250 million or so.
Mayweather wants to make the bulk of that and offer Pacquiao a tiny portion.
Yeah, that's fair. (Insert sarcastic look of your choice here).
The bottom line is this: Friday's interview did nothing to advance the cause of getting the fight made.
If it happens, I'll be thrilled because it's a fight so many fans have been desperate to see.
But unless Mayweather is open to serious and fair negotiations, the idea of Mayweather-Pacquiao on May 2, 2015, is a pipe dream.
