Wait till they’re standing in front of each other

Here we go again … and again.

Sports news last Sunday showed that discussions are ongoing to get Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao inside the ring sometime this year. There’s already a battle ensuing between the messengers and negotiators of both camps but whether these middlemen can actually get their bosses into the ring is another matter.

So far it seems that only the venue (MGM Grand) and Pacquiao receiving a smaller slice of the prize money are beginning to be clear. However, the pay-per-view sharing and the numerous details of how HBO and Showtime will co-produce this extravaganza are the remaining significant items on the checklist.

The drug-testing angle, which was the main hurdle the first time there was a genuine effort to stage the fight, seems to be an insignificant issue as of late. Mayweather wanted Pacquiao to do Olympic-style drug testing which the Filipino first refused, then agreed to just get the deal done. But no fight still happened.

So what could now jinx this fight from happening? All the main negotiators, like Bob Arum, are hush-hush about the whole thing so as not to jeopardize the whole process anew. It’s like a baseball team not wanting to talk to its pitcher who’s throwing a no-hitter or a perfect game and no one wants to throw a wrench at the effort.

A Filipino term might be appropriate as well: Ayaw nilang maudlot ang usapan (They don’t want to jinx the talks). It’s like all the mirons (bystanders) peering over the shoulder of a card player with a great hand or a basketball team negotiating with a star player who’s playing hard to get but is listening to the offer closely.

The onus is now on Mayweather. From way back, Pacquiao clearly wants to trade punches with the undefeated American. It’s the best fight for him, the one that will boost his legacy especially if he etches that first loss on Mayweather. There’s money to be made but one can sense that Pacquiao wants to do it for his fans who are aching for him to just land one solid punch on the loquacious one who responds to the name Money.

And yet no one can predict how Mayweather will think. The money is just too good to bypass but on the other hand, there is that nagging fear that he might just lose this one. He knows Pacquiao could land that one big shot that could change his record permanently or affect his remaining years in the fight game.

So this is what we should all do: Until we see both fighters in a promotional tour with Mayweather taunting the Pacman at every turn, we should just hold our horses. Until we see Pacquiao unleashing that smile of his taking all of Mayweather’s antics in stride, we should not believe there is a fight.

No one can tell what’s going on in the mind of Floyd Mayweather Jr. except those nagging images of the possibility of defeat.