by Tim Harrison
By now you’ve most likely read reports of the halftime face-to-face meeting between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather at Tuesday night’s Miami Heat game against the Milwaukee Bucks. Reports clogged up news feeds and message boards, some might say the news “broke the internet”.
Pacquiao and Mayweather sat on opposite sides of the court, and according to numerous reports Mayweather was approached by Pacquiao advisor Michael Koncz. Then at half-time, Mayweather approached Pacquiao and after a brief discussion, the two exchanged numbers and parted ways with an awkward handshake and half “bro hug”. They later met in Pacquiao’s hotel suite and discussed what Mayweather felt were the hurdles keeping a final deal from being reached.
Rumors were confirmed on Wednesday morning by Koncz in an interview with FightHype’s Ben Thompson. Koncz also detailed Mayweather’s concerns over broadcast rights (Mayweather is under contract to Showtime and Pacquiao to HBO), and stated he left the meeting and gave Mayweather assurance that the hurdles would be cleared in the morning.
Later in his interview with Thompson, Koncz claimed the hurdles bothering Mayweather seem to be done and that he was optimistic the fight was going to happen. And Koncz isn’t the only one optimistic about a deal being reached in the very near future.
Many believe Mayweather vs. Pacquiao will be formally announced as the world watches on Superbowl Sunday .
It all seems too convenient, too easy. Mayweather and Pacquiao finally meet face to face, and everything just magically comes together. Far too many details remain for one “happenchance” meeting to have solved. Was Manny and Mayweather’s meeting a sign of real progress in this nauseating half-decade saga, or was it a publicity stunt to keep their names in the headlines as they prepare to announced Pacquiao-Jessie Vargas for April and Mayweather-Cotto 2 for May?
If Arum’s claims are true and Pacquiao has agreed to all of Mayweather’s terms, then one can assume that Mayweather will put pen to paper once the details for the conflicting networks, sponsors, and various advertisers and foreign broadcast entities are all taken care of.
Many sources with knowledge of the talks have claimed the rival networks Showtime and HBO are still far apart on a deal, so to believe their differences can be solved by one call from Michael Koncz is to believe he actually has that kind of power and sway over high powered network executives
Furthermore, Bob Arum continues to piss in the pool with his talk of an alleged January 31 deadline for Mayweather to sign his end of the deal; a deal by no one’s account but Arum’s even exists. To really believe this fight will be announced this weekend is to believe Arum has any real interest in turning his back on the fledgling Macau market and all the work he’s already put into making it his next cow with the golden teats.
Sources aside from Koncz claim the negotiations are ongoing, and many details need to be ironed out by more than a phone call. Angels won’t come down and bless all involved parties with the calm and understanding to magically come to a deal in the next 24 hours, whip up contracts, have Mayweather and Pacquiao don pens made of dragon bones and sign in ink made of the blood of a slaughtered unicorn.
Don’t get your hopes up, as I’ve said numerous times before. And try not to act too surprised and upset when Pacquiao-Vargas and Mayweather-Cotto 2 are announced.
You can email Tim at timharrison65@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter and tweet big plates of sauteed crow at him when Mayweather-Pacquiao is announced this Sunday, at www. Twitter.com/TheTimHarrison.
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