On the surface, it appears it’s Bob Arum’s turn along with Manny Pacquiao to duck Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather Jr.
With the brash unbeaten American’s jail sentence put off sixth months from now in order for him to honour his obligations inside the ring, Arum disclosed he is still not going to line up Mayweather as one of Pacquiao’s possible opponents in the Filipino boxing star’s first fight for the year 2012.
“Absolutely not. Nope,” said the Top Rank chairman.
On Saturday, Justice of the Peace Melissa Saragosa deferred Mayweather’s 90-day sentence that was supposed to start this week to 1 June instead, following a last-minute plea made by lawyer Richard Wright in behalf of the undefeated American boxer.
Wright appealed to have Mayweather Jr’s jail time postponed six months in order for his client to train for the 5 May date his promoters promised months ago to pay-per-view television and the MGM Grand Garden Arena against a still unnamed opponent. Saragosa was swayed by the petition and granted the request.
That certainly opened the door on the possibility of finally turning the long-awaited match between Pacquiao and Mayweather into a reality. But Arum obviously has other things in mind.
Instead of scheduling Pacquiao’s return for May as he earlier announced, Arum now declares the Filipino fighting congressman from Sarangani province will make his ring return in June owing to the huge cut he suffered during his third encounter with Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez in November.
“We’re fighting in June, one of the four guys,” Arum said.
“If Manny feels he wants to go in May, he will tell me. I want to make sure Manny’s cuts are healed.
We won’t fall under this kind of pressure.
June is much more likely for Manny’s fight, not May.”
The short-list includes Marquez, junior middleweight titlist Miguel Cotto and reigning junior welterweight champions Timothy Bradley and Lamont Peterson.
Pacquiao, the reigning World Boxing Organization welterweight champion, said he welcomed the idea of Mayweather making a comeback on May, but made it clear that Mayweather’s temporary liberty doesn’t automatically meant making their highly-anticipated mega-match already possible in May.
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