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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] The failure to make the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight was named Ring Magazine event of the year for 2010.[3]

Background

A few months after his TKO victory over Ricky Hatton on December 8, 2007, Mayweather announced that he would retire from boxing,[4] claiming he had achieved all he wanted to achieve.[5] The 31-year-old Mayweather registered 39 wins and no losses in his historic career. At the time of his retirement, Ring Magazine had Floyd Mayweather ranked their number 1 pound-for-pound fighter, with Manny Pacquiao at number 2.

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, Mayweather announced that he would come out of his 21-month retirement to fight The Ring lightweight champion and #2 pound-for-pound fighter Juan Manuel Márquez later that year.[6] 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 in early 2008.[7] Mayweather played down Pacquiao's newfound stardom in his press conference, stating: " 'If he wins tonight, don't be all shocked ... Cause guess what? I beat (Hatton) when he was undefeated. Pacquiao beat Oscar, it don't matter. Going down to 147 pounds was too much for (De La Hoya), he was dead after the first round. I also think that Marquez beat him twice. When you talk boxing, you talk Floyd Mayweather.' "[8]

Pacquiao would go on to defeat Hatton by KO in Round 2. The win made him the second boxer in history to win titles in six weight divisions, the first being Oscar De La Hoya.[8]

Mayweather proceeded to beat Marquez by lopsided unanimous decision in their September, 2009 bout. After the fight, Mayweather's close friend and manager Leonard Ellerby stated that a fight with Manny Pacquiao was the "next obvious choice from a marketing standpoint."[9]

On November 14, 2009, Pacquiao knocked out Puerto Rican star Miguel Cotto. Pacquiao's victory sparked a media frenzy, and fans immediately demanded a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight.[10] Though the fight had yet to be made, Pacquiao opened as an 8-5 favorite in Las Vegas casinos.[11]

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.[12] Freddie Roach, on the other hand, commented that he would not allow blood to be taken from Pacquiao one week before the fight.[13][14] 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.[15] Consequently, on January 7, 2010, Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum declared that the fight was officially off.[16] Pacquiao went on to fight Joshua Clottey on the March 13 date, while Mayweather took on Shane Mosley in May. Both won by unanimous decision.

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. ^ "PAST WINNERS OF THE RING'S YEAR-END AWARDS". The Ring. February 24, 2012. Retrieved March 11, 2012. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ "Undefeated Mayweather announces retirement". Daily News Wire Services. 7 June 2008.
  5. ^ Mayo, David (4 July 2008). "Mayweather gives first interview since retirement". MLive Media Group.
  6. ^ Rafael, Dan (2 May 2009). "Mayweather Jr. to fight again". ESPN.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Fight Agahi im brian in was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b Okamoto, Brett (3 May 2009). "Mayweather-Pacquiao seems inevitable". Las Vegas Sun.
  9. ^ Okamoto, Brett (15 November 2009). "Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao: The only fight fans want to see". Las Vegas Sun.
  10. ^ Anderson, David (18 November 2009). "Why the Mayweather - Pacquiao fight must happen for the sake of boxing". Daily Mirror.
  11. ^ Rafael, Dan (16 November 2009). "Pacquiao looking to Mayweather fight". ESPN.
  12. ^ "Pacquiao firm on 30-day blood test limit". Philippine Daily Inquirer. 27 December 2009.
  13. ^ "Mayweather, Pacquiao camps argue drug-testing points". Los Angeles Times. 22 December 2009.
  14. ^ GMANews.TV, Promoter says Pacquiao-Mayweather likely off. Gmanews.tv (2009-12-24). Retrieved on 2012-05-19.
  15. ^ Velin, Bob (1 January 2010). "Mayweather blames Pacquiao for failure to work out deal". USA Today.
  16. ^ Rafael, Dan (2010-01-01). "Arum: 'The fight's off'". ESPN.
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