Paulie Malignaggi is one of the most colorful and blunt analysts in the sport of boxing. He has recently stated through social media that inside sources have told him the Mayweather-Pacquiao negotiations are just about done, and that he personally believes the fight will get made for May 2nd.
ThaBoxingVoice.com recently caught up with Malignaggi for his take on the current state of the Pacquiao-Mayweather negotiations. He elaborated, “I don’t think it’s Bob [Arum] supposedly keeping the fight from happening, I think it’s Bob just being a hard ass in the negotiations. Just being a stubborn old guy, you know what I’m saying, the older guys, you know how they are, they get stubborn, and they want things their way. I think Arum wants the fight to happen.”
Malignaggi also chimed in on Pacquiao’s recent public appearances, stating he has agreed to everything and is just waiting on Mayweather to sign the contract.
“Manny giving dates and saying all these things, I mean it’s just for fans to kind of jump on his board and say ‘hey you see Manny wants the fight,’” Malignaggi explained. “It doesn’t matter what Manny wants, he legitimately has a boss; your promoter negotiates it. Floyd has a boss in [Al Haymon], but it’s not really his boss, it’s more of his advisor, so Al will give help in the negotiations in order to benefit Floyd. And in this case Floyd is on the A side, so it’s up to Arum and Manny to agree or not agree to the terms. In reality, it’s up to Arum because Manny can’t agree without Arum agreeing, it doesn’t go both ways.”
It appears evident that Pacquiao and Arum have issued conflicting statements in previous years regarding the Mayweather-Pacquiao negotiations that side with Arum, but this doesn’t appear to be one of those cases. Koncz took the liberty in a HoopJab interview to address the comments from people stating Pacquiao doesn’t have any significant impact on the negotiations, by stating. “I saw today that Floyd was making some comments that Manny’s not the boss, Arum’s the boss, and that’s all BS, Arum cannot and will not do anything without our approval. I’ve had several meetings with Bob in this regard, and Manny himself has had two meetings with Bob with me. And he’s approved everything and signed off in everything.”
Koncz went on to explain they haven’t seen a contract from Mayweather, but his lawyers are working on it. He stated, “Manny’s agreed, and in principle there is a contract signed by Manny.”
