‘Accidental’ meetings signal Pacquiao-Mayweather 2
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2019 16:17:30 +0000
If there’s any indication in the series of frequent “accidental” meetings between World Boxing Association welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao and the undefeated 50-0 win-loss record holder Floyd Mayweather Jr., it is that a potential repeat of their 2015 showdown is pushing through.
That is notwithstanding a pronouncement of Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe that his boss is retired and will stay as such busy enjoying the perks of his billions traveling all over the world, buying expensive mansions, cars and jewelries.
Pacquiao and Mayweather met at least three times in a span of less than two weeks before the Filipino 147-pound world belt-owner fought the latter’s compatriot Adrien Broner, on the day of the fight itself and a few days after, all on the initiative of Mayweather.
The two bumped into each other on January 9 during the NBA Filipino Heritage game of the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center where the eight-division champion was an invited guest.
On the day of the Pacquiao-Broner encounter on January 19 at the MGM Arena, Mayweather went into the Filipino icon’s locker room unannounced, tapped the WBA Filipino titlist’s shoulder and simply wished him, “Good Luck.”
They met for the third time on January 21 also the Staples Center, to watch the Golden State Warriors beat the LA Lakers. Like their previous two meetings, no words were spoken, witnesses attested. Only the look at their eyes has spoken.
The duo actually met in September 2018 in Tokyo where the former six-division titleholder told the eight-division counterpart of his desire to unretire to fight him in a rematch of their May 2, 2015 date won by him.
He even set December of the same year as date of the rematch. That didn’t happen and instead “The Money” fought and won over an obscure Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa by knockout.
The bottom line is, the Grand Rapid, Michigan native, judging from his body English, is interested, if not more interested in having a Pacquiao-Mayweather 2 realized.
But why is he now keeping himself mum on the prospect since that Tokyo announcement, in the process, keeping, too, everybody guessing on what he really wants to?
Well, maybe Floyd was waiting to see the pay-per-view numbers that were generated in the Pacquiao-Broner fight and that upon learning of the estimated 400,000 ppv buys would be enough encouragement to open the table for negotiations.
That 400,000 units sold, according to estimates, means the fight, won by Pacquiao, grossed approximately $30 million in domestic pay-per-view revenue. Count the official gate for the announced crowd of 13,025 and that could be translated to seven figures.
Sources from the US said the Pacquao-Broner had bigger numbers compared with the world heavyweight title clash between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury last December in Los Angeles, which only drew 325,000 buys.
Meaning fans, everyone still wants to see this rematch, even if Mayweather and Pacquiao are 42 years old and 40 years old, respectively. They’ve waited for long five years too for Chapter I of the Pacquiao-Mayweather encounter and they’ve been waiting for four years already since then.
Both Pacquiao and Mayweather are under Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions stable and, therefore there is zero obstacle in promoting the rematch.
Pacquiao signed with PBC for a reason and it wasn’t just to fight Broner and listen to Ellerbe talk about Pacquiao fighting the other welterweights in the PBC stable.
Fact is Mayweather and Pacquiao keep coincidently bumping into each other, so why not do it again. Fans, sure will love it.
The post ‘Accidental’ meetings signal Pacquiao-Mayweather 2 appeared first on The Manila Times Online.