The negotiations for a possible $80 million super fight between pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao and former No.1 Floyd Mayweather Jr have been stalled and its not because Top RBank promoter Bob Arum and Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer have hit a snag. Its all because of Pacquiao’s reported firm decision to run for a congressional seat in Sarangani.
After a series of frantic overseas telephone conversations with Pacquiao’s lawyer Franklin “Jeng” G acal Arum told us he was informed that Pacquiao had decided to run for Congress and that the newspaper photos and reports quoting Pacquiao as asking for support for the Party List group Pwersa ng Bayaning Atleta were supposedly misleading. The impression that he would vie for a seat as a representatve of the PBA party list group were reportedly incorrect.
Pacquiao’s longtime friend and sometime confidant Rex “Wakee” Salud told us that Pacquiao would run in Sarangani and that there is a good chance he would run unopposed, banking on an apparent effort by President Arroyo to appeal to the well-established Chiongbian family to withdraw from the congressional race.
Salud said he was 99 percent sure that Pacquiao would run and win, no matter what.
Given this scenario Arum told www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports “what’s there to talk about” when asked for an update on his talks with Schaefer on a Mayweather fight.
Arum said “if worse comes to worse we’ll go back to the original plan for a March 13 fight” in which the new Dallas Cowboys billion dollar stadium is the likely venue.
He said Pacquiao “will fight somebody else” although no names were mentioned and Mayweather may go to England and fight Matthew Hatton, the brother of former IBO light welterweight champion RBicky “The Hitman” Hatton which has been mentioned as a possibility and the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight will happen at the end of the year.
Arum said “anyway, let’s see what happens” after the deadline for Manny to file his Certificate of Candidacy.
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