Floyd Mayweather has given the strongest indication yet a fight against Manny Pacquiao that the whole world wants to see is to take place. Advisor to the money man, Leonard Ellerbe, told ESPN: “We’re looking to make the biggest fight possible and everyone knows what that fight is, the little fella.”
He’s set the date at May 5, 2012 and it will only be the sixth time he’s fought since 2007. Mayweather has been spent most of his time either in court or at the sports betting kiosks since building up quite the reputation as a successful gambler. It will be those very same Vegas kiosks and online sports betting sites round the world where this fight even being speculated about will whet the appetites of all involved.
Pacquiao, meanwhile, has had to fight whichever bum decided that he’d quite like to see what it’s like to have your face hit for 45 minutes. A number have put up a spirited fight with Antonio Margarito showing that Manny might have a career as a Halloween make-up artist when this is all over.
Negotiations over a fight began way back in November 2009 with Money’s requests for stringent drug testing leading Pac-Man’s promoter Bob Arum to report the “fight is off” in January 2010. Tentative talks continued until July when they stalled on a November 2010 fight. It’s that winter month again that has brought us the latest news. We can expect the verbal jousting led many to the conclusion that Mayweather is running scared from a fight with Manny to kick off again some time soon.
If it takes place, the bout will take the biggest sports betting handle ever of a boxing match and prove that one is the greatest boxer of all time. The explosive power of Pacquiao up against the tactical excellence of Money will be something to behold and this one truly is too close to call. There’s still a long way to go yet and if Mayweather gets charged with the four felonies leveled against him we may never see this fight. That or Pac-Man losing to Juan-Manuel Marquez next Saturday. You do get the feeling that if Pac-Man and Money both want it to happen, there is little in the way that would stop it.
