Mayweather Jr. counted out?

While time may have technically run out Friday for Floyd Mayweather Jr., to fight Manny Pacquiao in November, the reality is Mayweather may have received an extension — if he wants it.

Bob Arum, the Top Rank chairman who promotes Pacquiao, said if Mayweather decides he wants to fight before a deal gets made for Pacquiao to meet Antonio Margarito or give Miguel Cotto a rematch, a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight would become a reality for Nov. 13.

“We hope to have a deal in the next 10 days,” Arum said in a late-night teleconference Friday. “Does that mean the Mayweather fight is dead? It’s dead when we conclude a deal for Manny’s fight in November. But in the interim, if Floyd said yes, he wants to do the fight, then we’ll do the fight.”

Arum said there was a Friday deadline because there was an exclusivity clause for Pacquiao to negotiate a deal with Mayweather for a Nov. 13 fight.

"We haven’t talked to anyone other than Mayweather,” said Arum, who had been talking to Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports, as a go-between for Team Mayweather. Arum said he has not spoken directly to anyone in the Mayweather camp throughout the entire negotiating period.

According to Arum, Greenburg has been dealing with Al Haymon, Mayweather’s co-manager.

“I talked to Ross two weeks ago and told him that Manny wanted this fight badly. At the same time, we had to move on at some point.”

That time has come. Arum said he will move expeditiously to get a deal done with Margarito or Cotto.

“We’re going to proceed with all deliberate speed,” Arum said of negotiations.

A Nov. 13 Pacquiao-Margarito fight would take place either in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden or in Monterrey, Mexico. However, for a Pacquiao-Margarito fight to take place in Las Vegas, Margarito will have to first be licensed in Nevada.

Margarito appeared before the Nevada Athletic Commission July 9 to request a license. However, the commission voted 4-1 to table his request. Instead, the NAC directed Margarito to return to California, where his license was initially revoked and he was suspended for one year after illegal hard inserts were found inside his hand wraps prior to his entering the ring against Shane Mosley Jan. 24, 2009.
Mosley won that fight, stopping Margarito in the ninth round.

Margarito last fought on May 8 in Mexico. A Pacquiao-Margarito fight would do extremely well there given Pacquiao’s world class status and Margarito being of Mexican heritage and a former world champion himself.

A Pacquiao-Cotto rematch would probably only happen if Margarito is unable to get licensed.  Arum said that fight would take place in Las Vegas or in Dallas at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Pacquiao destroyed Cotto when the two met last Nov. 14 at the Grand Garden.

Cotto has since bounced back, beating Yuri Foreman on June 5 at Yankee Stadium and winning Foreman’s WBA light middleweight title.

“I haven’t talked to Margarito or Cotto yet,” Arum said, when asked how much either fighter would make to get in the ring with Pacquiao.

Arum also said he didn’t know what kind of money pacquiao would command against either Margarito or Cotto. Rest assured, however, it would be far less than what he would earn against Mayweather. There have been estimates that Pacquiao and Mayweather could make around $50 million each were they to meet.

Arum said he hopes Pacquiao and Mayweather will meet in the ring at some point.

“Obviously, this is the fight fans want to see,” he said. “It’s a fight that Manny wants.

“Will it happen? Who knows?” 

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913.