| 12 January 2012
Everyone who blew up Twitter and the internets in general with hate toward a potential Floyd Mayweather-Robert Guerrero can settle down now.
That's because Guerrero won't be Mayweather's opponent on May 5, according to ESPN's Dan Rafael. He got that directly from Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer, so you can take it to the bank, or at least be as certain as possible considering we're talking about boxing here.
And because we can't go a day now without someone in an official capacity commenting about whether Manny Pacquiao will finally fight Mayweather, we've also got Pac-Man adviser Michael Koncz telling the Associated Press that the Filipino phenom won't fight Floyd on May 5 either. Echoing comments made by Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum earlier this week, Koncz said that the only way it would make sense (dollars, actually) to hold the fight in Las Vegas is after a large, temporary outdoor arena could be constructed, an undertaking that apparently can't be finished by Cinco de Mayo.
Koncz actually lays out some numbers to back up his argument, claiming that a larger venue could mean an extra $30 million in ticket revenue when compared to the MGM Grand. Assuming the two camps would be amenable to a 50-50 purse split, something to which they've at least paid lip service, that could mean a cool $15 million for Pacquiao on top of the assuredly eye-popping amount he'd already rake in.
It's not clear to me exactly why Mayweather and company are so hellbent on the May 5 date except for the fact that they had already announced that he'd fight on that day. He doesn't have to report to start his prison sentence until June, and the sport of boxing would gladly rearrange itself around a Pacquiao-Mayweather bout.
At the same time (and it pains me a little to say this), there's no reason Mayweather should have to bow to Team Pacquiao's multiple conditions. They want to pick the date and the venue. A compromise would seem to be in order here, like, say, holding the fight on May 26 but at the MGM Grand. I'm sure by jacking up the pay-per-view and closed circuit fees (something Arum has already said he'd probably do) and merchandising the crap out of it, you could make up the extra ticket revenue.
Still, the two sides haven't shown much willingness to compromise in the past, so why start now? Mayweather has his date and location set but still doesn't know who he'll be fighting. His list appears to be down to just Canelo Alvarez, though Rafael threw Miguel Cotto in there as well. Maybe another option will emerge. Leonard Ellerbe has suggested we'd hear something by the end of the week, and the week is nearly up.
Pacquiao looks to be headed for late May or early June for his ring return, site unknown, for TBA. One would think Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez, Lamont Peterson and Timothy Bradley are all still on red alert until one of them gets to sign on the proverbial dotted line. Then if both men win, we can go through all of the Pacquiao-Mayweather speculation all over again, with the added twist that Floyd will be negotiating from behind bars. Fun times!
