Last month Mayweather surprised fight fans when he announced in a live interview on CBS/Showtime that he has decided to fight longtime rival Manny Pacquiao and wanted the fight to happen on May 2. View video here.
Arum, who holds a contract to promote Pacquiao until 2016, opposed the Mayweather-imposed fight date saying it will coincide with Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican independence day celebration and suggested that the fight date be moved to June this year.
Arum said May 2 is fitting for a Mexican fighter like Canelo Alvarez who is being groomed to face Miguel Cotto on that weekend.
“May 2, that Cinco De Mayo weekend, is a Mexican holiday. It is a big Mexican-American holiday. It’s a fight date being talked about for Mayweather, Pacquiao, even Cotto, but they’re not Mexicans or even Mexican-Americans,” Arum told The Telegraph.
Mayweather stood his ground on his desired date and while Arum isn’t happy with the date, he nonetheless agreed with Mayweather to get the fight done for May 2.
“I don’t necessarily like the date,” said Arum. “That date is a Mexican holiday, and it should be for a Mexican fighter. But Floyd wanted it on May 2, so we agreed to May 2.”
With the agreement reached on the fight venue, drug testing protocol and date of the fight, there is just one more major issue that needs to be settled which is the determination of the share of the fight purse.
But even with this last major hurdle, Pacquiao is reported to have agreed on the the 60-40 split being proposed by the Mayweather’s camp with the bigger share going in Mayweather’s favor.
Pacquiao will be in the US over the weekend and it is possible that a fight contract will be signed by him and Mayweather before returning to the Philippines.
