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Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao

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Mayweather vs. Pacquiao is a proposed boxing match between undefeated, five-division world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao. Despite predictions that this fight would be the highest grossing fight in history,[1][2] disagreements between the two fighters' camps on fight terms have prevented the bout from coming to fruition since negotiations began in 2009.[1]

Background

A few months after his TKO victory over Ricky Hatton on December 8, 2007, Mayweather announced that he would retire from boxing,[3] claiming he had achieved all he wanted to achieve.[4] The 31-year-old Mayweather registered 39 wins and no losses in his historic career. During Mayweather's retirement, Manny Pacquiao earned superstar status in much of the western world after his career-defining victory over Oscar De La Hoya, for which he jumped up from lightweight to welterweight. On May 2, 2009, the day of Manny Pacquiao's fight with Ricky Hatton it was confirmed that Mayweather was coming out of a 21-month retirement to fight The Ring lightweight champion and #2 pound-for-pound fighter Juan Manuel Márquez in September.[5] Marquez had previously fought Pacquiao in two controversial outings, once to a draw in 2004 and once to a split decision in Pacquiao's favor. Mayweather beat Marquez in a lopsided unanimous decision. On November 14, 2009, Pacquiao knocked out Puerto Rican star Miguel Cotto in the final round. After the Cotto-Pacquiao and Mayweather-Marquez fights, the public demanded a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. Though the fight had yet to be made, Pacquiao opened as an 8-5 favorite in Las Vegas casinos.[6]

First Negotiations

The first negotiations for the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight began in late 2009. On December 11, 2009, Golden Boy Promotions sent a fight contract on behalf of Mayweather to Top Rank, Pacquiao's promoter. The contract reportedly stipulated a March 13, 2010 fight date, and proposed a 50-50 financial split between the two sides.[1] Mayweather also demanded that Olympic-style drug testing be conducted by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which would entail random blood and urine testing through the day of the fight.[2] This stipulation would prove to be a point of contention between the camps. Pacquiao refused to have any blood testing within 30 days from the fight, because he thought it would weaken him, but he was willing to have blood taken from him before the 30-day window as well as immediately after the fight.[7] Freddie Roach, on the other hand, commented that he would not allow blood to be taken from Pacquiao one week before the fight.[8][9] In an attempt to resolve their differences, the two camps went through a process of mediation before a retired judge. After the mediation process Mayweather agreed to a 14-day no blood testing window. However, Pacquiao refused and instead only agreed to a 24-day no blood testing window.[10] Consequently, on January 7, 2010, Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum declared that the fight was officially off.[11] Pacquiao went on to fight Joshua Clottey on the March 13 date, while Mayweather took on Shane Mosley in May.

Possible Further Negotiations and Mayweather's Disappearance

References

  1. ^ a b c Iole, Kevin (1 June 2012). "Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao nearly agreed to a 2010 fight, documents show". Yahoo! Sports.
  2. ^ a b "Bob Arum calls Pacquiao-Mayweather fight dead". GMA Network. 25 December 2009.
  3. ^ "Undefeated Mayweather announces retirement". Daily News Wire Services. 7 June 2008.
  4. ^ Mayo, David (4 July 2008). "Mayweather gives first interview since retirement". MLive Media Group.
  5. ^ "Mayweather Jr. to fight again".
  6. ^ Rafael, Dan (16 November 2009). "Pacquiao looking to Mayweather fight". ESPN.
  7. ^ "Pacquiao firm on 30-day blood test limit". Philippine Daily Inquirer. 27 December 2009.
  8. ^ "Mayweather, Pacquiao camps argue drug-testing points". Los Angeles Times. 22 December 2009.
  9. ^ GMANews.TV, Promoter says Pacquiao-Mayweather likely off. Gmanews.tv (2009-12-24). Retrieved on 2012-05-19.
  10. ^ Velin, Bob (1 January 2010). "Mayweather blames Pacquiao for failure to work out deal". USA Today.
  11. ^ Rafael, Dan (2010-01-01). "Arum: 'The fight's off'". ESPN.
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