MANILA, Philippines — There was one notable development in boxing on Tuesday. Bob Arum, Top Rank Inc. CEO, bared they have signed a deal with Manny Pacquiao and MP Promotions extending their promotional agreement through Dec. 31, 2016.
Here’s Arum’s official statement: “We are pleased that, with our partners and HBO, we will continue presenting to the public fights of the great Manny Pacquiao through the end of 2016. The partnership among Manny, Top Rank, MP Promotions and HBO has been a wonderful one for all parties and for the public and it’s great that it will continue for the years to come.”
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No need to look twice.
The deal, like it or not, comes with an advice to Muhammad Ali et al. who kept dreaming of the bout of bouts between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., to forget it.
“It’s the final nail in the coffin of a fight that might have defined two great legacies,” noted Bert Ecksel of boxing.com.
It didn’t take long after the Arum announcement for the Associated Press to report that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will next fight on Sept. 13.
No opponent or site had been mentioned.
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By the way, Pacquiao himself has been booked much ahead for a fight in Macau in November, with Juan Manuel Marquez just waiting to thresh out final details likely involving the size of his purse before formally agreeing to a fifth encounter with his arch rival.
Regarding Mayweather, it would most likely be a rematch with Argentina’s Marcos Maidana.
Amir Khan, originally on the list of possible Mayweather foes, has been scratched out as the bout would conflict with the observation of Ramadan.
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Meanwhile, without touching on the dream Pacquiao-Mayweather bout, two-time world champion Roger Mayweather went out of his way to endorse Pacquiao-Marquez 5.
“They know one another very well and they create great fights—just like Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Sugar Ray Robinson and Jake LaMotta,” he said. “You can’t beat them kind of fights because you already know you in a dog fight. That’s what you’re in.”