Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather in popularity race with bouts on same night

Instead, it will be a commercial battle, and one of popularity, as they race off for pay per view buys on the same night. I wouldn’t mind betting that both contests nosedive tin views - as fans around the world have been registering distaste at the shenanigans emerging from the saga.

On Friday night, Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter at Top Rank, revealed that Pacquiao would defend the WBO welterweight title against former title holder Joshua Clottey - on March 13, at the NFL Cowboys Stadium, in Arlington, Texas.

Not to be outdone, by the end of the weekend, it was announced that Mayweather will fight at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, on the same night. Talk about brinkmanship.
The MGM Grand was in the running to host the Pacquiao-Mayweather megafight before the collapse of the contest after a dispute between the camps on the drug testing protocol. Shame. It was only being touted, realistically enough, as the highest grossing fight in history. More importantly, it was, and remains, the defining fight of this generation of boxers. Egos and one-upmanship is only damaging the sport in this instance.

Instead of the proposed megafight, Mayweather is now looking at the likes of Paulie Malignaggi, Nate Campbell, or Kermit Cintron, although Richard Schaefer completely ruled out Matthew Hatton, the younger brother of former light welterweight champion Ricky Hatton.

"There is absolutely no truth to the rumors about Matthew Hatton. I can't tell you for sure who Floyd will fight, but I can tell you for sure it won't be Matthew Hatton," Schaefer told ESPN.com.

There is talk of Mayweather facing Shane Mosley, if Mayweather wins his March bout, although Mosley must also defeat the clever skills of Andre Berto in a welterweight unification fight on Jan 30. But the top of the boxing tree has itself in fine mess at the moment.

Source: telegraph.co.uk/