Comments Thread For: Mayweather-Pacquiao: HBO, Showtime Deal Not Done

[Koljack]

Dan Rafael @danrafaelespn · 32m 32 minutes ago
All quiet on #MayweatherPacquiao front. Too quiet. Those who talk aren't. And it's crunch time. So I'm raising threat level back to orange.

Hhmmmm. .....Interesting...here's another one.

Dan Rafael @danrafaelespn
We should do emergency drill just to be prepared if #MayweatherPacquiao is signed. I could make mock announcement & you react as practice.
15m ago

[Say-so]

Another lie from Arum...shocking. Forget all the fanboy b.s. Arum, despite being a greedy liar, is not ******. He knows Floyd will beat Pacquiao, and despite all the $$ involved he is reluctant to cash Pacquiao out at this point. Especially with no options or rematch terms. Floyd will school Manny, comfortable and obvious decision. And neither of them pay my bills so I don't give a **** about who wins.

I don't think it would matter if Pacquiao loses. His next fight is overseas anyway and Arum will still make a killing off that as well as Pacquiao. Plus, he has such a loyal US following that people will be loyal to him until he retires.

[Mayweatherfan11]

Showtime exec: Backup bout in place for Floyd Mayweather if no Manny Pacquiao deal
Mayweather will face either Miguel Cotto or Amir Khan on May 2 if the Pacquiao talks collapse.

BY MITCH ABRAMSON NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Friday, February 6, 2015, 10:01 PM

Showtime boxing chief Stephen Espinoza isn***8217;t in ***8220;panic mode***8221; yet regarding the never-ending negotiations between superstars Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, and says that only a ***8220;handful***8221; of issues remains to make the fight.

But he did say that a backup plan has already been put in place for Mayweather to face either Miguel Cotto or Amir Khan on May 2 if the Pacquiao talks collapse.

***8220;He***8217;s definitely fighting on May 2,***8221; Espinoza told the Daily News in a phone interview on Friday. ***8220;His first choice by far is Manny Pacquiao. If it becomes clear that that fight is not achievable, then he would move on to either Amir Khan or Miguel Cotto. He***8217;s made it clear to us that Pacquiao is still his No. 1 priority, and that***8217;s where all our energy is focused.***8221;

Espinoza said there was still plenty of time to announce the May 2 fight against Pacquiao.

***8220;There is urgency to get this done and get it going, but we***8217;re not in a panic mode in terms of the calendar right now,***8221; he said.

Espinoza declined to say if there***8217;s a firm deadline for when all parties would move on from a Mayweather-Pacquiao deal, but expressed confidence that whatever issues remain are surmountable.

***8220;I would say I***8217;m optimistic that it can get done,***8221; Espinoza said. ***8220;We have work to do to bridge the gap on important issues, but the most important thing is that Floyd genuinely wants it and wants it badly, and from everything I***8217;ve heard and seen, Manny wants the fight as well.***8221;

Speaking in generalities about the complexity of the discussions, he said of the issues involved:

***8220;Imagine the Super Bowl was negotiated on a case-by-case basis. So what network the Super Bowl is on, who produced it, which is the home team, where the teams stay, who gets introduced first, what network talent is involved and that gives a little bit of insight of why this process seems to be dragging on for quite a while.***8221;

There are two separate negotiations taking place to make the fight: one involves the two boxers agreeing to a deal.

Then, there is the negotiation between Showtime and HBO for a joint Pay-Per-View telecast. HBO has an exclusive deal with Pacquiao, and Showtime has one with Mayweather.

Both have yet to come to terms on an agreement, Espinoza said.

***8220;We***8217;re down to the last handful of issues. So the handful of issues is small, but the importance of those issues is pretty big,***8221; he said without going into detail. ***8220;There are a few open issues on each element of the deal, on both the fighter/promoter part of the deal and the network to network part of the deal. Neither one is done yet.***8221;

Espinoza declined to give a time frame for when he believes a deal could be reached.

***8220;No contracts have been signed yet, we're still in the discussion stage,***8221; Espinoza said. ***8220;A breakthrough could come any minute or it could take another week or two.***8221;

One school of thought has it that HBO is stalling until Mayweather becomes a network free agent in 2016. But Espinoza hasn***8217;t seen any evidence of that, and an HBO source disputed that claim.

***8220;Do you actually think Floyd after blind-siding us with the announcement, he***8217;s walking out of here and going to Showtime would actually come back here?***8221; an HBO mole said. ***8220;He***8217;s not coming back here. It***8217;s just unrealistic.***8221;

[brown_knight06]

More blah. Get this fight done.

[MrRolltide91]

Everybody needs to be quiet