Showtime Executive Stephen Espinoza Reveals Why Mayweather Keeps Mum About The Pacquiao Fight
Floyd Mayweather Jr. has not said a word about the much-anticipated mega-buck fight against Manny Pacquiao since he challenged the eight-division Filipino world champion for a May 2 fight back in December. Unlike Pacquiao, who continues to taunt Mayweather in various social media posts and media interviews, Mayweather opted to remain silent on the issue.
While other people may speculate that Mayweather has little interest in making the Pacquiao fight happen due to his indifference, Showtime Executive Stephen Espinoza says otherwise. According to Espinoza, Mayweather wants the Pacquiao fight so bad as much as people want to see it. The only reason why Mayweather has not been talking about it is because the undefeated fighter didn't want to mess up the current negotiations.
Espinoza revealed in an exclusive interview with Multi Channel News that Mayweather wants to keep the negotiations out of the press as much as possible. "Some has perceived that (Mayweather's silence) as lack of interest, but it's the opposite, he's so focused on getting it done that he doesn't want to say anything publicly that would complicate the negotiations," Espinoza said. "He wants it as much as he'd ever had for any fight, and our marching order are to do our best to get it done as fast as possible."
Espinoza further revealed that the talks about the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight are making progress. However, he also said that there are still a number of important points, which he refused to state, that are yet to be agreed upon.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 knockouts) has reportedly already agreed to Mayweather's (47-0, 26 KOs) demands. Los Angeles Times reported that Pacquiao has already signed off on the terms including a 60/40 purse split in favour of Mayweather. The Filipino boxing icon also agreed to hold the fight at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas and he has also agreed on the drug-testing protocol. Up until this day, no final agreement between both camps are set, but it is anticipated that the boxing fans will know more details soon as Pacquiao's advisor Michael Koncz has no plans of continuing the negotiations further than the end of January.
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