Mayweather vs. Pacquiao

[Poesia [ ] T]

Floyd Mayweather is ready to negotiate a fight with welterweight champion Shane Mosley in the wake of Mosley's fight with Andre Berto being canceled, Mayweather adviser Leonard Ellerbe told ESPN.com on Monday night.

 

Mosley was due to face Berto in a welterweight title unification match on Jan. 30 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. However, Berto, a Haitian-American who had at least eight members of his family killed in the recent earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation, withdrew from the fight earlier Monday because he was "mentally and physically exhausted" from dealing with the catastrophe and needed to be with his family.

 

"I know everyone is rushing to make this fight with Mosley, but I want people to know that Floyd feels awful for Berto and his family for what they and their country are going through," Ellerbe said. "That is first and foremost. But if, in fact, Shane Mosley is available, that's the fight that Floyd would love to make. It's no secret that Floyd has been trying to make a fight with Shane for the last 10 years.

 

"Our condolences go out to Berto and his family because that is the human side of this. Everyone is talking about us making a fight with Mosley, but Floyd wants people to know that his prayers -- all of ours -- are with Berto. But he also wants people to know that he is ready to fight Mosley. That's the fight he wants more than anything. And Floyd has instructed me and Al [Haymon, Mayweather's other adviser] to make the biggest fight possible. We will be talking with [Golden Boy CEO] Richard [schaefer]. Floyd against Shane is the biggest fight in boxing right now that can be made."

 

Mayweather had been tentatively scheduled to fight Manny Pacquiao on March 13 before that bout fell apart when the sides would not compromise on the drug testing protocol for the bout. Mayweather insisted on rigorous blood testing, which he would also be subject to, but Pacquiao rejected it.

 

Instead, Pacquiao took a fight with former welterweight titlist Joshua Clottey, and they will meet on March 13 on pay-per-view at Cowboys Stadium. There is a news conference to formally announce the bout at the stadium on Tuesday followed by another news conference on Wednesday in New York.

 

Schaefer, who works with Mayweather, had said that Mayweather would fight a different opponent on March 13 in a competing pay-per-view from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

 

However, with Mosley becoming available, attention immediately turned to Mosley-Mayweather, which, aside from Pacquiao-Mayweather or Pacquiao-Mosley, looms as the biggest fight in boxing.

 

According to Schaefer, he has the MGM Grand Garden Arena on hold for May 1 and May 8. Ellerbe said that time frame is fine with Mayweather for a fight with Mosley.

 

"Most definitely," Ellerbe said. "Shane is a great fighter and if a deal could be made, Shane would be the toughest fight out there. That fight is tougher than the other fight [Pacquiao-Mayweather]. It's a mega fight if it can be made."

 

If the bout is finalized, it remains to be seen if Mayweather would insist on the same rigorous drug testing he wanted Pacquiao to undergo. Pacquiao denies he has ever used performance-enhancing drugs even though Mayweather has alluded to him using and Mayweather's father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., has said outright that he believed Pacquiao used PEDs, despite having no evidence. The accusation led Pacquiao to file a defamation suit against the Mayweathers and others, including Schaefer and Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya.

 

Mosley, however, has admitted to using PEDs and was connected to the BALCO scandal. Although he publicly denied using PEDs for years, Mosley admitted during grand jury testimony, which was later released, that he used designer steroids "the clear" and "the cream" and injected himself with EPO, a blood oxygen enhancer, during the leadup to his 2003 rematch with Oscar De La Hoya.

 

Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs), a five-division champion, and Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs), a three-division champion, have seemingly been on a collision course for years dating to the late 1990s, when Mosley was lightweight champion and Mayweather was junior lightweight champion.

 

More recently, Mosley repeatedly called Mayweather out before he got involved negotiating the fight with Pacquiao. In fact, Mosley crashed Mayweather's post-fight interview in the ring following his September victory against Juan Manuel Marquez and publicly called him out to his face.

 

Schaefer said he would try to make the fight.

 

"That is a super fight, and now my next order of business -- to see if we can put [Mosley-Mayweather] together," he said. "That is what I am going to be doing in the coming hours. The sooner the better if we can get this potential fight done. With Shane now being available and Floyd being available, that's a fight all fight fans and sports fans would embrace. This would be a huge showdown. Shane has wanted that fight for a while. That's what I am going to try to do."

[Poesia [ ] T]

Not the fight i wanted to See but ill take it

[asthma al]

same here......but it should be a good one if they make it.

[Poesia [ ] T]

Yeah i think it will be pretty even mosely might have enough power and speed to hurt mayweather and he will need to knock him down or KO him to have a chance. No way in hell is mayweather losing any decision.

 

Also i was listening somewhere and someone made the comment the 75% of the people that buy mayweather fights is to see him Lose. I know thats why i watch..

[DBMstyles]

this is what boxing is all about...bullshit politics, if mayweather beats mosley do know how much bigger this fight agaist manny will be, assuming pacman wills his fight also.

 

i wanted to see berto fight mosley, i think mosley would of won but i like bertos style

[laughslast]

i would much much love a mosley mayweather fight. this is actually the fight i would prefer to see.

[mrdoctor]

fuck yeah..that would be sick.mosley has a really good chance.he fights very smart..his style is perfect for gayweather.

[mrdoctor]

[ILOTSMYBRAIN]

So now Pac man has agreed and signed to Mayweathers rules. Mayweather still hasn't committed.

 

Hmmmm...

 

http://ww.examiner.com/x-43081-Jersey-City-Fight-Sports-Examiner~y2010m7d15-Is-Floyd-Mayweather-scared-to-fight-Manny-Pacquiao

[CLICKCLACKONER]

Mayweather is a straight up bitch.

[ALLFATS]

Mayweather would fold your ass in half. just like he will to bitch ass punkquiao.

 

punkquiao, knows that money will dance circles around his ass jabbin that little gooks face in even further. manny aint got shit outher then some performance enhancein needles in his back pocket. thats why hes affraid.

 

money's in the right, if you aint got nothing to hide let them take your blood. cmon, you get blasted in the dome for a living, you really that much of a fucking pussy that a little needle scares you? punkquiao just being a punk ass bitch if you ask me. end of subject, close the thread. fights never gonna happen that pinoy is a pussy...and floyd is just money.

[CLICKCLACKONER]

1- of course mayweather can kick my ass, as well as everybody on this site. That's a fucking given.

 

2- pacman has agreed to whatever bs stipulation mayweather wants.

 

3- umad. Calm down.

 

4- you seem like a young gay gentleman.

[301192]

Speak for yourself, pretty sure i could take mayweather anyday.

[CLICKCLACKONER]

[CLICKCLACKONER]

Mayweather is a straight up bitch.

 

It's official.

[xmyrtlex]

shits probably not goin down

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news?slug=ki-nofight071810

[gasfacevictm]

Snooze.

[IRON CHEF]

[gasfacevictm]

LOL.

[AnthonyOTorres]

1- of course mayweather can kick my ass, as well as everybody on this site. That's a fucking given.

 

2- pacman has agreed to whatever bs stipulation mayweather wants.

 

3- umad. Calm down.

 

4- you seem like a young gay gentleman.

 

 

yeah and mayweather said he wants to relax now what a homo.... he is not accepting the fight cause roger mayweather is on trial and he dont wanna train without him.

[CLICKCLACKONER]

can his publicist be more transparent?

[LexDiamonds]

Isn't Mannie gonna fight Margarito now?

:)

[ALLFATS]

BADR HARI would whoop both these fools.

[asthma al]

marquez vs diaz should be a good one.

[AnthonyOTorres]

HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg released a four-paragraph, five-sentence statement Monday which cast doubt upon the veracity of Floyd Mayweather Jr.; Mayweather’s best friend, Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe; Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer and which forever eliminated any doubt about Mayweather’s intention: He’s ducking Manny Pacquiao.

There can be no other rational explanation.

More From Kevin Iole

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Welcome to “Mayweather in Wonderland,” where they try to convince you that up is down, the grass is blue and the sky is green. Never mind that Mayweather has tarnished, perhaps forever, his legacy as one of the best boxers of all time. Given his disinclination to fight Pacquiao, it’s hard to regard him as the best fighter of his own time.

Mayweather was nowhere to be found on Monday, still on vacation, apparently oblivious to the millions of boxing fans desperate to hear a word about his intentions. If Mayweather cared about his legacy, if he cared about the sport that has made him rich and famous, he wouldn’t have been invisible the last few weeks while allowing Ellerbe to spew a lot of mumbo jumbo.

Mayweather and his cronies attempted to insinuate that Top Rank chairman Bob Arum was being deceitful when he said he’d been negotiating for a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight with Greenburg serving as the middle man. Greenburg and Arum have not had the strongest of relationships, while Greenburg has an extraordinarily cozy relationship with Golden Boy. If Arum were lying, their frequently contentious history together suggests that Greenburg would have called him on it immediately.

Greenburg, though, clearly sided with Arum, when he said, in part, “I had been negotiating with a representative from each side since May 2nd … “

That’s what Arum, who promotes Pacquiao, has steadfastly claimed for weeks. On June 30, Arum told Yahoo! Sports that “all issues were resolved” and that the only outstanding matter was whether Mayweather wanted to fight in 2010 or 2011. Arum then set a July 16, 11:59 p.m. deadline on Mayweather to accept the deal. On a conference call in the early morning hours of July 17, Arum announced the deadline had passed without word from Mayweather and that he was pursuing a fight for Pacquiao with either Antonio Margarito or Miguel Cotto.

Ellerbe, though, released a statement on July 19 that was the beginning of the end for Team Mayweather’s credibility. Ellerbe disputed that talks had even taken place. “Here are the facts,” the statement read. “Al Haymon, Richard Schaefer and myself speak to each other on a regular basis and the truth is no negotiations have ever taken place nor was there ever a deal agreed upon by Team Mayweather or Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao on November 13. Either Ross Greenburg or Bob Arum is not telling the truth, but history tells us who is lying.”

That led many in the media to quickly assail Arum’s credibility and for Schaefer and De La Hoya to issue self-righteous comments backing Ellerbe and denying negotiations had ever taken place.

And they would have won this silly game had it ended there and had Greenburg not entered the fray. Arum insisted he was telling the truth, but few seemed to believe him. They didn’t, that is, until Greenburg released his brief, simple, but truly remarkable statement.

In it, he said, “Fights like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao are significant because of these fighters’ ability to connect with sports fans around the world. It’s unfortunate that it won’t happen in 2010. I had been negotiating with a representative from each side since May 2nd, carefully trying to put the fight together. Hopefully, someday this fight will happen. Sports fans deserve it.”

Here’s what sports fans deserve: They deserve better than to waste their hard-earned money on “Money,” who acts as if he’s invented the sport. Mayweather’s a brilliant talent who never seems to let one forget it, who behaves as if he should be able to dictate terms and others should gratefully accept it because he said so.

Let him play in his fantasy world. Boxing doesn’t need him. And, truth be told, he’s wrong about his value.

Mayweather has sold more pay-per-views against common opponents than Pacquiao and his gates for those fights have been bigger. But Pacquiao’s Nov. 14 bout with Cotto at the MGM had a far greater economic impact upon the city of Las Vegas than either of Mayweather’s and the Nevada Gaming Control Board attributed casinos’ best performance in 22 months in November 2009 to the presence of the Pacquiao-Cotto bout and the high-rolling Asian gamblers who spent loads of money.

Despite apparently being caught red-handed when Greenburg released his statement, Ellerbe’s only response on the record was, “I hear his statement and I stand by my statement.” But he then attempted to insinuate that comments Mayweather made at a June 2 Make-a-Wish event in Las Vegas should have been taken by the media that he never planned to fight Pacquiao this year.

“At this particular time, Floyd Mayweather is taking probably a year off, a couple of years off from the sport of boxing,” Mayweather said at the charity event. “I don’t really know what the future holds for Floyd Mayweather at this particular time, but I’ll probably take a couple of years off.”

Saying one “probably” is going to take a year off is a lot different than releasing a statement or holding a media conference and announcing one’s retirement. Yet, Ellerbe attempted to intimate that Mayweather’s statement to sports director Chris Maathuis of KLAS-TV in his gym at a charity event was a definitive announcement.

What muddied the waters even more was told Robert Morales of BoxingScene.com, “I think I said it because I get the question so many times that, obviously, I was fed up and tired of it and I just said like, ‘Yeah, yeah, it’s gonna get made.’ ”

Essentially, De La Hoya on Monday admitted to lying on June 11, though it’s uncertain how his June 11 comments would have helped end the questioning he wanted to avoid. Given that he said a deal was close, that would only seem to make the scrutiny greater, no lesser. Had he said there were no talks – which he’s now insisting is the truth – and that the fight was not going to happen, no one would have had reason to keep asking him.

No one is going to ask any more. How can anyone support someone with Mayweather’s arrogance, who cares so little about the fans who made him rich beyond his wildest dreams that he won’t even consider the fight they want more than any other?

Mayweather has run from his biggest challenge. The fans, even those who have ardently supported him through the years, will surely remember that. And the next time he dares to compare himself to one of boxing’s all-time greats, such as Sugar Ray Robinson or Sugar Ray Leonard, they’ll scoff.

He can’t hold a candle to either.

Kevin Iole covers boxing and mixed martial arts for Yahoo! Sports. Send Kevin a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.:lol:

[knotsone]

mayweather is being a bitch made pussy, he just doesnt want pacquiao to end his career on a bad note.

[LexDiamonds]

His career has been stacks of greenbacks. He don't give a fuck.

Neither of these fags wanna fight Berto or The Punisher.

I said it before and I said it again.

Margarito? THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!!!!

HAHAHAHAH!!!

[RALPH LAUREN]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN-4cLGcdAA

[Zoes]

According to Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach, a proposed super fight between the Filipino WBO Welterweight Champion and undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. (41-0, 25 Kos) will probably never take place.

 

A fight to determine the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world has been in the on-again off-again stages for over a year now -- but looks like it could be permanently off gain if Roach is right.

 

Roach was recently interviewed on video by Graham Bensinger of Yahoo Sports and seemed convinced the bout won’t take place now because it already would have happened. Roach is surprised that Mayweather would turn down about $40 million and a cut of pay-per-view profits.

 

"I don't think it will ever happen,” Roach said. “It will be one of those fights we're never going to see. It would've happened by now. All that money on the table ... how can you turn it down? Boxing's a sport, but it's a business also."

 

The fight seemed to be a go for March when negotiations were taking place near the end of last year, but they hit a snag when Mayweather insisted on both fighters being subject to Olympic-style drug testing. Surprisingly to many, Pacquiao balked at the suggestion and negotiations were put on hold.

 

Roach said his fighter didn’t want to take a blood test close to a fight with Mayweather because Pacquiao believes the process weakens him and blamed a previous loss to Erik Morales on giving blood just before the bout. Pacquiao then beat the unglamorous Joshua Clottey in March instead while Mayweather outclassed the talented, but aging Shane Mosley at the start of May.

 

Talks opened up again and it looked like a Pacquiao vs Mayweather fight might take place in November, especially after Pacquiao and Roach appeared to agree to all of Mayweather's demands, which included drug testing and entering the ring first. But Mayweather’s camp said negotiations never resumed.

 

That led Roach and millions of boxing fans to accuse Mayweather of ducking the seven-time world champion and settling for hand-picked opponents. And while Mayweather might not be ducking Pacquiao, it might be hard for him to fight anybody in the near future since he’s facing several criminal charges in Las Vegas, and could end up being sentenced to a lengthy prison term.

[Mauler5150]

People still watch boxing?