The Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood will be home for Manny Pacquiao for two months in the event the May 2 super fight with Floyd Mayweather gets done.
As reports continue to swirl that the world welterweight title fight is close being signed, Pacquiao’s adviser Mike Koncz yesterday said “the entire training camp” will be in the US.
Yesterday morning, a report by celebrity news website TMZ said that the fight is already a done deal but stakeholders involved in working to make the fight a reality quickly dismissed it, saying that while there is progress in the negotiations, the fight isn’t done yet.
“I won’t believe it unless it’s Floyd who’s the one saying that it is a done deal,” Koncz said.
Even Showtime Sports big boss Stephen Espinoza told boxingscene that talks are still on-going and that there are still issues being ironed out.
“We can’t celebrate getting two-thirds across a minefield,” said Espinoza when told about the TMZ report and Top Rank chief Bob Arum’s pronouncement that a deal is imminent.
“You celebrate when you completely cross and you are clear of danger. Right now we are still in the minefield,” added Espinoza.
A few days ago, Pacquiao and Mayweather bumped into each other during the Miami versus Milwaukee game at the American Airlines Arena.
It was Mayweather who approached Pacquiao and the two exchanged cellphone numbers and hooked up shortly after the game in the Filipino star’s suite.
Koncz said that they have given in to Mayweather’s demands and that all signs point to an agreement being made by the two parties in the coming days.
Pacquiao is aligned with HBO, while Maywather is represented by Showtime and everything points to a repeat of the joint broadcast undertaken by the two rival TV outfits in June 2002 when Lennox Lewis (HBO) faced Mike Tyson (Showtime) at the Pyramid Arena in Memphis.
Pacquiao, meanwhile, is just “goofing around” in Los Angeles, according to Koncz.
“He always plays basketball,” said Koncz, who will join Pacquiao to Washington on Tuesday for a meeting with President Barack Obama and possibly with the Dalai Lama on Feb. 5.
“I think it helped a lot because we were all putting papers together, and there was still a question as to whether Floyd really wanted to do the fight or not,’’ Arum said. “Based on the meeting with Pacquiao in the hotel suite, Manny and (Pacquiao adviser) Michael Koncz were convinced Floyd absolutely wants to do the fight.’’
Filipino southpaw Pacquiao, 57-5 with two drawn and 38 knockouts, has won three fights in a row since being knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez in his fourth bout against the Mexican. “Pac-Man’’, who is 36, won a unanimous decision over Chris Aligieri in Macao last November in his most recent fight.
Mayweather, 47-0 with 26 knockouts, turns 38 next month and has two more fights in the rich Showtime deal that has made him the highest-paid athlete in the world. Should he win them both, Mayweather would match the iconic 49-0 record of 1950s legend Rocky Marciano, who retired as an undefeated heavyweight champion.
Mayweather is coming off a unanimous decision win over Argentine fighter Marcos Maidana last September in a rematch of a bout last May that Mayweathwer won by majority decision.