SAN DIEGO, Jan 10, 2012 – Despite the ruckus raised by boxer Floyd Mayweather today on Twitter, we are no closer to a Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao showdown on May 5 than we were last week, last month, or last year. 

Mayweather posted a tweet about 2 p.m. Eastern Time to his two-million plus followers reading “Manny Pacquiao I’m calling you out let’s fight May 5th and give the world what they want to see,” followed immediately by the tweet “My Jail Sentence was pushed back because the date was locked in. Step up Punk.” Can we all say #trendingterm?

After a Las Vegas judge ruled Mayweather could postpone serving jail time until after a fight date booked by Mayweather’s camp at the MGM Grand on May 5, speculation has run amuck on what it would take to make the long awaited dream match between the undefeated Mayweather and Pacquiao a reality.

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum said at the time it wouldn’t happen on May 5 and he hasn’t changed his tune. In an interview with BoxingScene/The Standard and ABS-CBN’s Dyan Castillejo published Monday after his arrival in the Philippines to talk with Pacquiao, Arum says he has now reserved the dates of June 2 and June 9 for a Pacquiao fight. Arum also said he’s not opposed if the camps can come to terms to do a fight at the end of May.

Arum has never waivered from his opinion that the MGM Grand at 16,500 seats is far too small a venue for the proposed Mayweather-Pacquiao match. Arum wants to see a temporary stadium built in Las Vegas for 45,000 people, which was done many years ago for a bout between heavyweights Larry Holmes and Gerry Cooney.” Arum says this can’t be done with certainty by May 5, but it could be available at the end of the month.

Arum pointed out to Castillejo the huge economic difference in the potential gate being as much as $60 million, less the $7 million cost of the temporary stadium, versus $20 million at the MGM Grand. as saying. “It’s an extra $20 million for each fighter which is a lot of money. But that’s a choice the fighters have to make,” said Arum.

Arum said if “Mayweather wants to fight Manny he has to say I want to fight Manny and I’m willing to fight at the end of May because in good conscience I’m not going to leave $40 million on the table.”

No matter what sort of trash tweets, fronting, stunting, or calling out Mayweather engages in, money always talks. Arum wouldn’t be doing his job as a promoter on behalf of Manny Pacquiao if he didn’t work hard to maximize the gate and the take for this proposed once in a lifetime fight. Even in the sporting world, leaving $40 million on the table isn’t chump change and it would be a foolish decision.

It would be a completely different story if it were reported that Mayweather phoned or emailed Arum and asked him to talk with Golden Boy Promotions in a serious way about a fight. While Golden Boy does not formally represent Mayweather, they can put the deal together and they’d be all about being included on this big payday. But Mayweather must authorize Golden Boy to act on his behalf.

Arum believes Mayweather has always intended to fight someone like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez or Robert Guerrero from Mexico because he booked the MGM Grand venue for May 5, Cinco de Mayo.

Arum says Pacquiao is not going to wait for Mayweather to decide what he’s going to do, and intends to have his discussion with the fighter as planned about the original opponents mentioned on the short list last week: Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto, Timothy Bradley and Lamont Peterson.

While the Twitterverse gets all wound up over Mayweather’s comments, it’s the same old, same old from Floyd. Putting this sort of stuff into context, this is the fighter who trash talked 80-year-old HBO boxing analyst Larry Merchant on a live broadcast, to which Merchant finally replied, “If I was 50 years younger I’d kick your (backside).”

So while we can all have fun with this, everyone needs to wise up and keep their trunks on. Understand that in the end, it’s a money decision as much or more than a sporting decision. This is no different than any other sport. No one should be too hard on the promoters or the fighters over their priorities.

Mayweather vs. Alvarez or Guerrero is still an appealing fight, and a little appetizer for boxing fans if Mayweather and Pacquiao can’t come to terms before Floyd does his time this summer. Arum has said the possibility of a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight this fall when Mayweather gets out of jail is very much on the table.

Perhaps we’ll know whether a fall fight will take place before Mayweather does his time, and fans will simply need to be a little more patient. We’ve waited this long. At least with a date the years of discussion and waiting will be at an end, and we can enjoy the anticipation of seeing the fight. It will also give fans some time to book their reservations and plane tickets for Las Vegas and save up the money they’ll need to enjoy this fight of the century and all the excitement that goes with it.

In the meantime, we will likely have to settle for a rematch fight sometime in June between Pacquiao and either Miguel Cotto or Juan Manuel Marquez, still enjoyable bouts in their own right. 

So don’t make those reservations for Vegas anytime soon, unless your real reason for going is to see Celine Dion. Besides, it’s much nicer in Las Vegas in November than in May.

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal, APR, is President/Owner of the Falcon Valley Group in San Diego, California. She is also a serious boxing fan covering the Sweet Science for Communities. Read more Media Migraine in the Communities at The Washington Times. Follow Gayle on Facebook and on Twitter @PRProSanDiego. Gayle can be reached via Google +

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Copyright © 2012 by Falcon Valley Group

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