Deadline For Mayweather To Sign Contract Nears

MANILA, Philippines – Will Floyd Meaweather Jr. sign on to fight World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao on November 13?

Since the undefeated former pound-for-pound king is keeping his cards close to his chest, Top Rank promotions chief Bob Arum has drawn up some contingencies in case Mayweather declines their offer.

As of posting time, Mayweather had only hours left to decide before the July 15 deadline for him to sign the contract ends.

"We're ready to go on with the Mayweather fight," Arum said in a report by ESPN.com. "But we have to make contingency plans just in case, and I don't really want to talk about that too much.”

Arum said they have already submitted their proposal to negotiators handling Mayweather, citing that details regarding the method of drug testing and revenue split have already been threshed out.

All they are waiting for is Mayweather’s signature to finally forge the fight deal.

“Mayweather has until the end of the week. He could wait until the last minute. If it's Friday and it's 11 p.m., and he says we have a deal, we have a deal," said Arum.

"That's the fight we want and that's the fight we're in for, but if we can't do that fight there are other opponents," he added.

Among those being considered are former world champion Antonio Margarito and new World Boxing Association (WBA) junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto.

In fact, Pacquiao’s Canadian adviser, Michael Koncz, already had a “positive” meeting with Cotto, whom Pacquiao defeated in a 145-pound catch-weight last November.

Arum said Mayweather should make up his mind soon so they can immediately work on promoting the mega fight which could turn out to be the biggest and richest boxing match in history.

"He might not want to fight again this year. If he wants to say, 'See you next year,' there's always next year. But I don't think we can wait much longer for him to make up his mind because if we do the fight we want to make it as big as we can make it, and that takes time. I think Floyd will give us the courtesy of a response
one way or the other. What that response will be, I really don't know,” said Arum.

Historian: Floyd unlikely to face Pacman

Meanwhile, boxing historian Bert Sugar sees little chance that the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight will push through.

“I don’t see it happening,” Sugar told Examiner.com. “At least not this year. I don’t and never did.”

Sugar, who has hailed Pacquiao as among the greatest fighters in boxing history, said that aside from the money, the other factor to affect Mayweather’s decision in fighting the Filipino champ is his “undefeated” status.

“I think he’s got enough money,” he said. “He doesn’t want to fight right now. He’s not afraid of Pacquiao. He might be afraid of losing. If you ever talk to him, he will tell you in eight seconds or less that he’s the greatest fighter ever because he’s never lost and he has a chance here of losing.”

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