The drug testing issue has been resolved, the money reward is going to be more than fair, now it remains to be seen if Floyd is finally ready to commit to the fight he has avoided for two years.

There are signs though that Floyd isn’t up to the challenge. He has had his camp deny Arum is trying to negotiate. He has said he doesn’t understand why anyone would want to see a coward fight. But to the contrary, Floyd has named a date for his next fight and asked Pacquiao to sign a contract. He has also made videos saying that it’s time to get it on with Manny.

But Floyd has feigned interest that he was going to fight Manny before, and then reversed himself by putting up a new blockade to kill the fight.

Now Floyd, despite the money issue being in his favor and random drug testing approved by Pacquiao, still has several blockades that he can use to kill the fight. Floyd can cite his legal problems and distractions. He can say he doesn’t trust Bob Arum to be in charge of the promotion. Floyd can also price himself out of the fight by demanding a ridiculous payment, such as $100 million or perhaps, $150 million.

While there are signs that Floyd may be finally willing to make the fight, I think they are just pre-meditated calculations, bluffs and deceptions.

I believe Floyd is going to try to duck the fight again and buy more time, such as wait and hope that by ducking the fight again, Pacquiao will then take his second option which is to fight Juan Manuel Marquez again for the fourth time.

If Mayweather is successfully able to duck Pacquiao again, Pac will have to face Marquez again – and judging by the narrowness of the margin of victory in their recent clash, Marquez stands a very good chance to upset Manny. I think Floyd knows his smartest business decision is to take that option – to duck Pacquiao now and wait and hope he loses to Marquez.

Then Mayweather will be home free to pick and choose whoever he wants to box or spar with. Pacquiao will be eliminated as the #1 star of the sport and Mayweather will assume the throne.

As the new king of boxing, Mayweather will have all the leverage and will certainly demand huge money for the lowest risk fights, against the likes of Golden Boy set ups like Robert Guerrero or Erik Morales. Floyd will be able to earn $20-30 million for easy nights of work, as opposed to the $50 million for a high risk clash with Paquiao which is very possible that he can lose, or even lose by brutal knockout.

Floyd’s career is made of smart business decisions and ducking and dodging fights that can give him a defeat. I believe Floyd will do all in his power, by any means possible, to find a way to duck Manny Pacquiao again, like he did for the last two years. I feel so strongly about this that I guarantee it.

Here is some of what Floyd said:

“I’m happy because I have my children with me. They make me feel so good. If I died today I’d die happy because I’m with the people who truly love me for who I am.”

“It’s a combination of things that makes Floyd Mayweather. But what I’ve done, no fighter has ever done. I’ve faced 42 and I made all 42 look the same…”

“You want honesty, I’m gonna give it to you. From the bottom of my heart. Marquez fought Pacquiao three times, Marquez beat Pacquiao three times. And things like that is hurting the sport of boxing…”

“You all just talk about somebody (Pacquiao) that popped up out of the blue. Boxing has been my whole life. Boxing has been my whole life. This is something, you know, I live or die for. I gave boxing my whole life…”

“The thing is this: I think it’s really fucked up. I think it’s really fucked up. I’m in my own country – red, white and blue – and they say I’m wrong because I want to be safe? I think they said Floyd is scared. I’m not scared. I’m not scared. I’m not scared at all. (“Manny Pacquiao you’re next…I never said that, I never said that AT ALL.”) I’m smart. Look at the legendary fighters that’s livin’, that’s dead, and look at the position that they’re in because they didn’t take the random blood and the random urine tests, you know. I keep my fingers crossed that the sport of boxing will change and I’m hoping that I was part of it. I gave the sport my whole life.”

What happened to the cocky Floyd, snarling about how he’s a “gorilla and a dawg?” About how he’ll destroy any man from 154 on down, just line ‘em up? Where is that bravado?

“I feel like Ali in the George Foreman fight. It’s so crazy, they’re saying Floyd is this, he’s that, he’s this, he’s that. When I win, they’re gonna be praising me. Oh, he’s the best thing that ever did it. I’m telling you right now, I’m the best that ever did it, with or without the Pacquiao fight…May 5th is the date, you (Pacquiao) can get it. Everybody keeps talking about the money situation, the money situation. How can a guy – I made more money in my last two fights that he made in his entire career. You can’t even say that a guy like this is on my level.”

Let me leave you with one quote from the all-time great Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher of Germany: “When you’re the best you’re always questioned. You win the race, then there’s always the next race. There’s always questions. It’s what makes it interesting. The challenge. To see if you’re still the best.”

Floyd, let’s see if you’re still the best. Or is Manny Pacquiao the best? The whole world wants to see this fight. May the best man win.

Don’t be ridiculous Jeff. Boxing needs Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather to fight. For what’s best for the next  decade of the sport and beyond, they need each other.

Though Floyd has been allowed to handpick Victor Ortiz as his next opponent, the buzz in boxing is still all about Floyd fighting Manny. Everyone is still talking about Floyd vs. Manny, not Ortiz.

They are talking about Floyd vs. Manny in other pro sports locker rooms too, including baseball, hockey, football, track and field and even…tennis. Tennis?! Yes tennis. Tennis stars Andy Roddick and Andy Murray recently held a debate about the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight (Roddick likes Pac, Murray favors Floyd).

Ali needed Frazier, The Yankees need the Red Sox, Michigan needs Ohio State, Nadal needs Federer, McEnroe needed Borg, Navratilova needed Evert. Holyfield needed Tyson. It’s all about match-ups in sports, pitting the best against the best. This notion came straight from the mind of former Olympic 100 meter sprint champ Maurice Greene, who said it this weekend. For your information, Greene wants to see Pacquiao vs. Mayweather, but can’t put his finger on who will win, only saying that whoever has the better gameplan will prevail.
As of right now, it looks like Pacquiao vs. Mayweather becoming reality might depend heavily on Mayweather-Ortiz failing. Consider: It’s difficult to imagine HBO and Golden Boy are going to reward Mayweather, who ducked the biggest fight in boxing history, a guaranteed figure for boxing Ortiz. Because it’s possible Mayweather vs. Ortiz could fail, perhaps colossally. Presumably, Mayweather’s payday will depend entirely or mostly on live gate and pay-per-view percentages. Clearly, the organizers of the fight are forecasting numbers similar to Floyd’s last fight vs. Mosley, which generated 1.4 million PPV buys.

But if Floyd-Ortiz draws significantly less than that figure, it would be reasonable to conclude that HBO and Golden Boy will be extremely displeased and will NOT invest and risk any further capital to promote Mayweather against any other handpicks. How on earth could they, when Pacquiao vs. Mayweather is guaranteed to generate the biggest numbers in the history of the sport?

Translation: I believe there is enormous pressure on Mayweather-Ortiz to sell around .75 to 1.4 million PPVs. If the fight does reach a profitable target range, surely Mayweather will take advantage by insisting that he wants/needs another tune-up or two or three or four. And so on and so forth, until he can milk every dollar he can from consumers. But if the Ortiz fight bombs, Floyd will be forced to fight Pacquaio.

I say this based on a few reasons. There is evidence and hearsay to suggest Floyd is in financial trouble now and has been loaned between $10 and $20 million by a certain supporter. Why else would Mayweather describe this special someone in interviews as like an “uncle” and his “Go To Guy”?  If Mayweather is his own boss and calls all his shots, why does he even need a Go To Guy? You never heard Holyfield, Lewis, Oscar, Hopkins or Duran say they needed a Go To Guy, did you?

A probable explanation is Floyd needs a Go To Guy because he is indeed broke or close to being broke and with the legal issues on the horizon, he needs major help.

And why would Mayweather feel the need to start changing his image by being more of a nice guy and doing good deeds? I thought being the villain was his ploy to sell tickets? Has Floyd been badly stung after all the negative PR and now concluded that behaving like the heel may translate into poor PPV sales in September and that by being a good, positive guy – like Manny Pacquiao – could maybe result in more fans wanting to support his next fight(s)? Is Floyd leaving nothing to risk to make sure the Ortiz fight sells?

No doubt, Floyd was thrown a big favor this time with Ortiz which is no guaranteed success, while fighting Pacquiao is money in the bank for everyone. If the Ortiz fight fails to sell to the public, Mayweather could find himself in a desperate position.

Keep in mind that the public has been disappointed from buying recent Mayweather fights over and over (Oscar, Marquez, Baldomir). How many more times will fans continue to purchase his fights – which do not include Manny Pacquiao? This is the million dollar question in boxing.

This scenario is nothing new to boxing. Of recent times, Mike Tyson went through a similar period during his career home stretch. As everyone clamored to see Tyson vs. Lewis, Tyson and his handlers kept avoiding that high-risk matchup by selecting safe paydays against the likes of Julius Francis, Lou Savarese, Frans Botha, Brian Nielsen, Orlin Norris, etc.

Tyson, a much bigger attraction than Floyd ever was, was allowed to take on all these softies but eventually the public stopped buying. Tyson’s last fight before Lewis against Brian Nielsen in Copenhagen, Denmark in October 2001, was shown on tape delay in the U.S. and drew lousy ratings for SHOWTIME. No doubt, this factored into forcing Tyson to bite the bullet and fight Lewis once and for all in, in June 2002, in order to pay off an army of creditors. It was reported that Tyson earned just “kibbles and bits” for fighting Lewis and most of his approximate $30 million purse went to creditors.

So my point is, the success or failure of Mayweather-Ortiz may play a pivotal and crucial role in determining when and if the big one, Pacquiao vs. Mayweather happens sooner or later.

Though Mayweather clearly does not want to trade strikes with Pacquiao any time soon, after September 17, the choice may not be his to make.

We shall see…

(Artwork by John Paul Raloto.)

The Mayweather ship is sinking fast. And there’s no hope really. It’s inevitable that Mayweather is going to hit the bottom and be humbled. “The humble shall be exalted and the exalted shall be humbled.”

Floyd’s in a no-win situation, really, outside of the money factor (and Floyd recently said it’s not about the money any more). Almost 34, his skills and confidence are fading fast, he is ignored or deplored by most of the sporting public, and he absolutely is going to get knocked out by Manny Pacquiao, the younger, faster, stronger, more beloved and humble man who is everything Floyd wishes he could be.

A friend of mine named Luther Chiles made a good point. “I was watching “24/7″ on HBO, as a boxing fan I must admit that the overwhelming popularity of Manny Pacquiao has to be great for boxing,” wrote Luther. “As much as I respect and admire my man Floyd Mayweather’s ability, he needs to steal a page or two from the positive feedback Manny gets from doing positive things consistently – those TV endorsements can carry you a long way and earn you some good money even when you can’t participate in combat anymore. Look at what George Foreman did when he came back with a new attitude and commitment. I don’t think George made anywhere near in ring earnings as much as he made in endorsements. It’s a no brainer!”

It was interesting to hear an honest Mayweather fan raise this issue. Luther’s comment made me remember hearing many boxer and tennis player say how important the positive support of the crowd was, that it was the reason they won a certain fight or match. So I replied to Luther:

“Interesting point Luther. Floyd should sign the Pacquiao deal, get knocked out like he knows it’s inevitable and just learn from it. Get touched by the greatness of Pac and learn from it. Like Foreman learned from getting knocked out by Ali. And ultimately became a better man from it. This is Floyd’s only hope, he needs to be humbled and humiliated. Experience rock bottom. His current ugly act will never endear him to the public.”

Luther responded. “Good comparison Scoop! That’s your journalistic creativity coming out, we will never agree on the outcome of this fight but after Ali vs Foreman, it was actually Philadelphia native Jimmy Young who sealed the deal for Foreman and sent him into retirement the first time around.”

Another excellent point from Luther. I re-watched Young vs. Foreman about a year ago for the first time since seeing it on ABC in 1977, and was enthralled seeing how the huge, vocal Puerto Rican stadium embraced Young in this fight, while totally rejecting Foreman who was acting like a bully jerk, fouling Young repeatedly. At first the crowd was neutral but after seeing Foreman act like a goon, they got behind Young booed and jeered Foreman relentlessly. And it actually seemed to break Foreman’s spirit as the fight proceeded. The entire Roberto Clemente Stadium helped the underdog Young who got off to a slow start and then energized and willed him to victory. It was an incredible fight to see the audience be such an important factor.

I strongly believe it was the rowdy Puerto Rican crowd support for Young and AGAINST George which was the key factor in this fight. In his heart, Foreman had to feel ashamed again (like in Zaire) for being so hated by the crowd and that was the last straw that broke him and his career. He left boxing and found religion and completely changed his life and later, public image.

Make no mistake about it: Crowd support can be so crucially important sometimes – and it can even make the difference between victory or defeat.

Mayweather knows when he faces Pacquiao he will get treated worse than what Foreman got in Zaire and Puerto Rico. He just can’t win. I remember Floyd even said last year, “It’s a no-win situation.” The only hope is to just accept his fate and let it happen. The public is never wrong. Floyd certainly deserves all the scorn he gets.

The only hope for Floyd is to accept it and learn from it and try to better himself and become a better man. After Floyd takes his beating from Pacquiao, the people will forgive him, just like they forgave Foreman and later embraced him. Humanity always forgives.

But Floyd Mayweather has to admit to himself, the way he has behaved for the last decade – the false drug accusations against Pacquiao, the materialism, the whoring himself for money, gambling, the bad examples he’s shown in public, the immaturity – this must be changed.

George Foreman learned a lot from Muhammad Ali and how to become a great person.

Likewise, Floyd Mayweather will learn a lot from Manny Pacquiao and how to finally become a great person instead of just a great boxer.

Scoop Malinowski is the author of “Heavyweight Armageddon: The Tyson-Lewis Championship Battle.” He has also created www.tennis-prose.com

(Mayweather artwork by John Paul Raloto.)

Earl Lee Riser: American boxing doesn’t need to rebuild. They already produce lots of great fighters of the sport compared to the other countries. American boxing did a lot of things to make the sport more colorful and a lot more exciting. And America is still the main destination of the sport.

Bill Ma: American boxing is has changed over the years. They are more into the entertainment outside of boxing instead inside the ring. There is a lot more lip service and trash talking outside the ring while bringing boring fights in the ring. Trainers and promoter should emphasize that their fighters have to fight instead of running constantly. Hugging and clinching. I remember that last fight with Alexander and Bradley where it was heavily hyped, which zero has to go. And when it came to fight night, it was an awful mess. Extremely boring, lacking in action, and nobody was on the edge of their seat. We should look at the Mexican fighters and look at their audience. Why has Mexican boxing become just as popular as ever in Mexico? They have impressive ratings when they brought back boxing in terrestrial tv. It is because these fighters provide a lot of action. Sometimes when I hear slick fighters, I kind of cringe because often it means boring. Ali was a slick fighter that wasn’t afraid to engage. Make the fighters fight, and it will bring American boxing back. Why do we still talk about great fights like Gatti vs Ward, two mid average fighters that brought one of the most exciting fights in history of boxing. It is due to these two fighters willing to lay it all on the line inside the ring. Thats boxing. Not running or a lot of clinching.

Voltaire Amogues: Lifetime ban to those who duck. Send Al Haymon back to the music industry and pressure those coward, protected boxers.

Guadalupe Gonzales: Tell the boxers it’s not how much money you want to get, it’s about what type of impact you want leave for the sport. As for Kirkland, if he wants it bad enough correct the mistake and, get a get-well fight asap. A loss isn’t the end of the journey, its a speed bump. The best fighters have losses – Manny Pacquiao for example.

Petar Djukic: Get them to fight in a Super Six style tournament. Careers will be made, careers will be broken, but at least they will fight names and tough opponents and all of us who want American boxing to come back have to boycott all the mismatches, look at the Khan fight – Sky had to pull out because apparently barely 50 bought it on pay-per-view. If this happened in America, HBO would have to put on the proper fights not mismatches. And Cotto-Pacman was the first fight in ages I saw two great opponents share a ring. It freaked me out to be honest. I wasn’t used to it usually you focus on one fighter but having two masters in there it was weird focusing on two.

Benny Henderson Jr.: Trying to figure that out makes my head hurt.

Renaldo Snipes: The solution is recession or depression – back to being hungry.

Jhong Jong: Americans generated more great fighters than any other country in the history of the sport. Most of them have made the history of this sport and will be remembered forever.

Mario Eusebio Delmindo: All the glories are all in the past, we are talking about now. The rebuilding process starts in the amatuer level.

Michael Canja: To begin the renovation…GET RID OF FLOYD!

Bill Ma: Some fighters think all they have to do is run their mouth and that’s it. I remember just watching this loud mouth kid Adrien Broner. Runnng his mouth, over confident and boring as hell to watch. He was trying to fight like Floyd and totally didn’t respect his opponent Daniel Ponce De Leon. Many thought Ponce De Leon won the fight but Broner was given this fight. In some rounds Broner was barely throwing a punch while Ponce De Leon was punting on the pressure. Ponce De Leon was clearly the active fighter in the ring. In the end, everyone was practically criticizing the kid Broner, that he should be left out of TV. His style was so boring.

Mario Costa (former assistant trainer of Mike Tyson, manager of Arturo Gatti): I think the fighters are completely spoiled, too many toys, too many things. They don’t work hard. Tyson said it was all about hard work. He said he worked very hard in the gym and he turned into a beast. He said he would sometimes look better in the gym than he did in his fights. He worked very hard. Back then there were no phones, no parties, no drugs. They were more serious. Nowadays, there’s too many things that make them get off their training. They don’t concentrate, they don’t focus. The discipline is not there.

To be continued. Stay tuned for Part 2…

Ht: 5-7 Wt: 130

DOB: July 29, 1989 In: Cincinnati, Ohio

Boxing Inspirations: “Well my number one is Floyd Mayweather. (Did you ever meet him?) I haven’t met him yet. I can’t wait. I’ll probably faint [smiles].”

First Boxing Memory: “Six-years-old. Boxing in the yard. I just love boxing. My dad (Thomas) brought me to the gym. And we went from there.”

Nickname: “The Problem.”

Hobbies/Leisure Activities: “Basketball, rap, write music, football.”

Last Book Read: “The Ring magazine.”

Favorite Movie: “Bad Boys II.”

Favorite TV Show: “Family Guy.”

First Job: “Never had a job.”

First Car: “It was a White Castle box with wheels. (Huh?) A burger box with wheels [smiles].”

Current Car: “2007 Charger, white and black.”

Pre-fight Feeling: “Having fun. I think about what I’m gonna do but I know what I’m gonna do. I go to have fun. If you’re not having fun, I don’t wanna do it.”

Favorite Meal: “Chicken spicy garlic sauce.”

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: “Vanilla. Cookies and cream.”

Childhood Dream: “Champion of the world.”

Greatest Sports Moment: “When I won the WBC (Youth) Inter-Continental belt (Super feather by RTD 6 Carlos Claudio in 2010).”

Most Painful Moment: “When I broke both my hands in the (Jose Alfredo) Lugo fight (2009).”

Funniest Boxer: “Floyd. I just love his swag.”

Embarrassing Boxing Memory: “Yeah, one time in the weigh-in I took off my drawers to get up on the scale and I was so happy that I made weight, they moved the towel. So I was exposed [laughs].”

Strangest Fight: “Yeah, when I broke both my hands was strange because I had to keep fighting, so I sucked it up and fought it out.”

Favorite Boxer To Watch: “Floyd Mayweather. (Who else?) Floyd Mayweather.”

Funny Boxing Memory: “I saw the guy get knocked out and he was still punching. He fell and he was still punching [smiles].”

Favorite Sport Outside Boxing: “Basketball.”

Hardest Part Of Boxing: “Training.”

What Would You Be If You Weren’t A Boxer: “If I never discovered boxing – without boxing, my coaches Andrew Williams, Mike Stafford, and Golden Boy, I don’t know where I’d be at.”

Which Fight Did You Feel Your Absolute Best: “Well, all of ‘em I feel great.”

On Seeing Roy Jones At Ringside For His Last Win In Newark, NJ: “I got in the ring and looked and there was Roy Jones Jr. I didn’t know he was there. It pumped me up, man. Roy Jones. I won by first round knockout. After the fight Roy said I was impressive. We took a picture too.”

People Qualities Most Admired: “Open. Sense of humor. Swag. Positive. Everything has to be positive.”

It happens to most all of our boxing champions – the time comes when they are sacrificed, thrown to the lions. It’s the natural evolution of the ruthless world of boxing which is a jungle.

It happened to Sugar Ray Leonard against Terry Norris. It happened to Joe Louis against Rocky Marciano, Roberto Duran against William Joppy and Jack Johnson against Jess Willard.
You see, no matter how great a fighter may have been, the sport doesn’t care, and will eventually throw him to the lions.

The powers that be threw Alexis Arguello in with Aaron Pryor. Jim Jeffries vs. Jack Johnson. They put Mike Tyson against Lennox Lewis. Heck, they even threw “The Greatest” of them all Muhammad Ali to the lions – that was the night he had to fight Larry Holmes.

The sport threw Roy Jones in there with Antonio Tarver twice after he barely survived the first fight. Roy had to do it and he did.

Sometimes the sport tries to throw a great champion to the lions but he is just too clever to be tricked and defies his fate. Lennox Lewis escaped desperate danger and clawed his way to victory over Vitali Klitschko in his final bout. Then Lewis opted, after much contemplation, to retire without a rematch. And the lions had to change their course.

The sport tried to eliminate Bernard Hopkins, who battled Jermain Taylor twice over 24 rounds. But Hopkins refused to be conquered. The judges took his titles away, but because of his gallant and honorable performance to survive, he remained an inspiration and “The People’s Champion.” Again they tried to feed Hopkins to the lions again against Kelly Pavlik, but he was too smart and crafty and outsmarted the lions once again.

For the third and fourth time the jungle masters tried again to match Hopkins – with Chad Dawson and Tomasz Adamek – but the old lion from Philadelphia wouldn’t step into the trap.

Now the natural progression of the jungle sport has caught up with the elusive Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather is all too well aware that the masters eagerly want to feed him to Manny Pacquiao and let the lions and vultures devour his carcass. Mayweather is no fool – he knows what time it is, that the end is so very near.

Like a desperate, frightened, vulnerable animal, Floyd is running as fast as he can to hide from the merciless lions. But he is coming to the realization now that here is no escape, nothing or nobody can help him this time. There is no way to survive Manny Pacquiao who is everything he wishes he could be.

When the time comes to be fed to the lions, you either face it with honor – or cowardice.

The moment of truth is here – Mayweather will soon decide what he really is.

HBO stunned the boxing world here in America when it made the controversial decision to not televise any Klitschko Brother World Heavyweight title fights (not involving Haye or Adamek) because, HBO’s top executive said the twin towers of boxing are “boring”, HBO didn’t want to send production teams to Germany’s time zone, there wasn’t much interest in heavyweight boxing, and sports fans had trouble differentiating each brother from the other.

The maneuver all but makes the richest, most prestigious title in all of sports virtually irrelevant in the United States – which could have a negative trickle-down effect on sports fans’ interest in lighter weight divisions.

One lighter weight class that could help pick up the slack of the HBO revenue stream is the welterweight division which is poised to stage the biggest money fight in boxing history between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. The executives at HBO have invested a lot of money in marketing and developing the popularity of Floyd and Pac and – you would think – are very eager and determined to make the fight happen right about now. The primary reason HBO has developed Floyd and Pac-Man to the point of becoming the world-renowned superstars that they are now is to capitalize on the jackpot profits a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight would produce.

But if Mayweather were to reject the big plan by refusing to sign the massively lucrative contract in his possession now, what course of action should HBO take? The man that has said so many times that Pacquiao is too one dimensional to beat me, Pacquiao knows he can’t beat me, and that God won’t let me lose to Pacquaio or anyone, would in effect, be biting the hand of HBO that has been so good and kind and generous to him throughout his entire professional career.

HBO has earned the right to collect the big payoff that a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight would, without any question, generate. But if Mayweather chickens out for the intent to box a series of handpicked exhibitions against the likes of Judah, Campbell, Matt Hatton or Saul Alvarez, would HBO actually find that acceptable?

Those kinds of fights would be even more suspenselessly boring than Mayweather vs. Baldomir or Marquez – and certainly would not be worthy of being televised on the prestigious HBO airwaves where we are accustomed to seeing the best vs. the best. And if anyone thinks a Mayweather exhibition tour against a series of inferior handpicks will make a fraction of the money that the Pacquiao fight would, they need a head examination.

HBO should apply the same, consistent, hardline policy it just hit the Klitschkos with – announce publicly – loud and clear – that HBO will not televise any Mayweather fights unless it involves Manny Pacquiao. Simple as that. Period. End of discussion, as Leonard Ellerbe would say.

Mayweather has no where else to go. Showtime doesn’t have the budget and probably has zero interest in televising a series of mismatch sparring sessions. Cowboys Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Giants Stadium or Dodger Stadium have expressed zero interest to stage an outdoor Mayweather fight against any handpicked opponent. And chances are, our friend Ellerbe was lying through his teeth when he claimed that an entity in Dubai was interested in paying multi-millions to stage a Mayweather fight.

HBO has the power to make things happen, to do what it believes is best for the short and long term interests of the sport. The way the sport is now, HBO is almost bigger than the sport itself, in a way. Where would boxing be without HBO televising and promoting it to the public? The Pacquiao vs. Mayweather fight is the event that could explode the sport to a new level of excitement and electricity, back to where it belongs…the glory days of when the best fought the best, like Ali and Frazier, Duran and Leonard, Hagler and Hearns,

With that said, if HBO opts to continue to support, bankroll and reward the career of Floyd Mayweather if he ducks Manny Pacquiao this week, it will be one of the most curious and suspicious business decisions ever made by boxing’s decision makers.

Contact Scoop: mrbiofile@aol.com