Mayweather, Pacquiao Dueling Fights: HBO Sides With......?

By Rick Reeno

Based on the word going around, the failed Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather negotiations is creating an aftermath scenario where both fighters will headline separate pay-per-view events on March 13 - the very day that Pacquiao-Mayweather was tentatively scheduled to happen.

The wheels are in full motion for Pacquiao to defend his WBO welterweight title against Joshua Clottey. Top Rank's Bob Arum flew to Texas on Saturday to finalize a venue deal with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Both of the fighters have agreed in principle and a finalized deal is expected in the next few days.

According to Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, Mayweather will also return on March 13 but at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Schaefer told several reporters - "no matter what, Floyd Mayweather will fight at the MGM Grand on March 13."

The real question, and the one question that most industry insiders want to know - is which event will HBO back. Pacquiao already has an opponent locked in, while Mayweather doesn't have a set replacement. Rumors of Paulie Malignaggi and Matthew Hatton are out there but nothing has been confirmed or denied by Team Mayweather.

Top Rank will move forward with or without HBO. They consistently stage their own pay-per-events. Golden Boy does not. During the course of the day, I spoke to a few promoters with no connection to either fighter, and none of them expect Golden Boy to move foward on March 13 if HBO picks up Pacquiao-Clottey. One source believes Schaefer is bluffing on the date. Another source believes Schaefer is serious.

Another interesting angle is the battle of pay-per-view buyrates. Pacquiao-Clottey is going to be an action fight. Mayweather is going to need a real solid opponent to compete. Top Rank is interested in revisiting the Mayweather fight in a few months. We sat back in 2009 as both sides were arguing over which of the two fighters was the bigger pay-per-view draw and deserved the bigger piece of the money. That argument will resume in 2010 when both fighters return to pay-per-view.

The negotiations for Mayweather-Pacquiao was an absolute soap opera. The final buyrate numbers for both events will give us an indication, to an extent, on which fighter had a falling out with the general boxing public. We sat through several weeks of soap opera-style drama as both sides tried to make the fight.

Some of the mudslinging has been vicious. I have a very hard time believing that anyone affiliated with Pacquiao or Top Rank would be stupid enough to send an email requesting an agreement between both sides to hide any information resulting from a "positive test result" for performance enhancing drugs. If either side had possession of such an email, it would have come out by now or at the very least - someone would have quoted the exact language from the email. We've heard both sides quote language from internal text messages, emails and voicemail messages but nobody has been able to quote anything or present any proof that such an email actually exists.

I would have to say Pacquiao's career took the bigger hit from this entire mess with all of the allegations, rumors and the cloud of doubt that swirls above his head. And the mess is far from over. With Pacquiao's pending defamation suit against Golden Boy and several of the Mayweathers, there will be a lot more drama in the coming months.

Source: boxingscene.com