Tha Boxing Voice has recently caught up with Bob Arum to elaborate on the ongoing negotiations of making the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout a reality. Arum expressed that both sides are not working to make the fight happen. He stated, “Pacquiao and his people wanted it to happen, but there’s nothing but silence from the Mayweather people. He doesn’t want the fight because he doesn’t want to lose.”
Arum went on to say, “Floyd Mayweather is in danger when he fights a fast southpaw who can hit. If you study Mayweather’s style it’s geared to fight an orthodox fighter, not somebody with a lot of speed, who fights left handed like Pacquiao, and who throws a lot of punches. That’s the wrong style for Floyd. Am I saying Floyd has no chance with Pacquiao, no I’m not saying that but what I’m saying is, Floyd who thinks he knows a lot about everything, one thing he does know is boxing. He really knows the sport of boxing. He knows how dangerous a fight with Pacquiao is for him. There’s no question about it. Is he afraid? Fighters aren’t physically afraid, but Floyd is afraid to lose.”
The message of Mayweather is afraid to fight Pacquiao and he’s been the main reason of the bout not coming into fruition, has been conveyed by Arum to the media for the past several years. Since Arum has been very active with the press, his message has been relayed through many boxing websites, which then gets presented to the general public. The Mayweather side has been far less outspoken on this issue, thus giving the boxing audience only Arum’s side of the story. Mayweather’s manager (Al Haymon) is hugely responsible of this occurring due to his refusal to communicate with the media.
Last night on Showtime, Mayweather made it abundantly clear he believes he’s levels above Pacquiao, and it has been Arum creating obstacles and feeding the media propaganda for the past couple of years, on what’s really taking place in the negotiations. Mayweather stated the public has only been receiving one side of the story.
The bottom line is Mayweather expressed that he wants to fight Pacquiao next on May 2nd, and its obvious Pacquiao wants the fight as well. Whether both parties can finally come to an agreement remains to be seen, but as of now there seems to be more optimism on the situation compared to recent years.
