Floyd Mayweather Jr. is Plan A for Manny–Bob Arum

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MANILA, Philippines—Revered promoter Bob Arum made it clear Monday—Manny Pacquiao’s priority for his next fight is Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Other names being floated—Miguel Cotto, Timothy Bradley, Juan Manuel Marquez, Lamont Peterson—will only be considered after Mayweather is deemed unavailable.

Asked by Rick Reeno of BoxingScene.com as to whom Pacquiao prefers to tangle with other than Mayweather, Arum replied: “I am not authorized to talk about who it is because whoever it is, is Plan B. When they become Plan A, we’ll talk about it.

“Plan A is Mayweather. We are locked and loaded on our side, we’re ready.”

In the same report, Arum, who conferred with Pacquiao regarding his choice from Jan. 3 to 7 in Manila, guaranteed Top Rank’s and Pacquiao’s 50 percent stake in the megabuck bout projected to enrich the protagonists by at least $50 million each.

Thing is, according to Arum, there’s no clear signal from the camp of Mayweather, who earlier taunted and dared Pacquiao to a May 5 showdown, through his Twitter account.

The 80-year-old Arum, a Harvard-educated lawyer and boxing Hall of Famer, reiterated that all the flamboyant American needs to do is call and formalize who’ll be representing him in the negotiations.
There are other obstacles to consider.

Mayweather’s insistence for a May 5 fight date, a bigger share of the revenues and his three-month jail sentence which he’ll stand serving on June 1 all serve as possible hurdles to the fight.

All Pacquiao wants is a 50-50 split in earnings for the fight, also projected to shatter Oscar De La Hoya-Mayweather’s pay-per-view record set in 2007, to push through.

Due to the magnitude of Pacquiao-Mayweather, Arum wants the fight to be held late May and, if possible, June 9.

Arum is batting for an outdoor arena to be built along the Vegas strip that could accommodate approximately 45,000 and bring additional gate receipts of over $30 million.

If Pacquiao-Mayweather doesn’t push through up to June, Arum envisions the unification bout to happen between the World Boxing Organization and World Boxing Council welterweight champions in November.