Manny Pacquiao wants the superfight with Floyd Mayweather and is putting some pressure on Mayweather to get a deal done.
It’s not true that the proposed fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather has been discussed since the Paleozoic era.
It just feels that way.
On Monday, Pacquiao laid down a deadline for Mayweather to sign a deal for a May 2 showdown at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
“My promoter and I, we’ve already agreed to the terms and conditions of whatever he wants,” Pacquiao told the Los Angeles Times. “We’re just waiting on the signed contract from him.
“That’s the hard part—if they will fight or not. We have to know soon, because if they will not fight, we can more on and choose another opponent. We have a deadline … this month.”
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There have been negotiations for a Mayweather-Pacquiao bout for almost five years, but to date the two sides have never actually been able to get an agreement ironed out.
Pacquiao told the Times he has no idea if the much-talked-about bout will ever happen, but he wants it, badly.
“The fans deserve this fight,” Pacquiao said. “No more will people bother me, ‘Can this fight happen?’ It’s time to make it happen. We’re waiting on a signed contract from him.”
In 2010, this would have been a tremendous fight. Mayweather was 32 and was 40-0 after a unanimous decision over Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand in September 2009—his first fight in nearly two years.
When the talks started, the then-31-year-old Pacquiao had just defeated Miguel Cotto for the WBO Welterweight title in November 2009 to improve to 50-3-2.
But while Mayweather has kept winning—he is now 47-0 after defeating Marcos Maidana by unanimous decision in September, avenging a majority decision in May and retaining his WBA, WBC and The Ring welterweight belts and the WBC light middleweight title—Pacquiao has lost twice since talk of a superfight began.
In June 2012, Pacquiao lost a split decision to Timothy Bradley, losing the WBO welterweight title, and in December of that year, he was knocked out in the sixth round by Marquez.
Pacquiao has won his last three fights, including a unanimous decision over Bradley in April to win back the WBO welterweight belt and a successful defense via unanimous decision over Chris Algieri on Nov. 23 in Macau.
Mayweather would be 38 by a proposed May 2 fight date and Pacquiao turned 36 in December.
The fight would still be a huge draw … just not the draw it would have been 4½ years ago.
At this point, a great deal of “just do it or shut up about it already” fatigue has set in.
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