Trainer Abel Sanchez Says Mayweather-Pacquiao Fight Will Happen In September

The prospect of the biggest boxing fight in the history of boxing fades day by day as Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fail to reach an agreement for a May 2 date, which the undefeated American fighter has previously set. According to world-class trainer Abel Sanchez, the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight will not come together this May as every boxing fan longs for.

“I think it doesn’t happen right now,” Sanchez told Fight Hype. “I think it happens in September.”

Sanchez, who trains undefeated middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, also said that he favours Mayweather to win the fight. However, he also feels that the fight will be “closer now than before.”

In the latest development about the mega-buck fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao, it has been reported that a number of issues still needs to be worked through and agreed upon including the deal between Showtime and HBO.

Recently, Showtime Executive Vice President Stephen Espinoza has revealed to the New York Daily News the back-up plan for Mayweather in case the Pacquiao fight fails to come to fruition. Espinoza attested that Mayweather will return to the ring on May 2, regardless of who he fights. In case the negotiations for the fight with the eight-division Filipino world champion fail to work out, Espinoza said that Mayweather will fight Amir Khan or Miguel Cotto on Cinco De Mayo.

Espinoza also shed some light on the real issues that prevent the fight from taking place and compared the complexity of the negotiations to how Super Bowl is being negotiated. The biggest sticking points in finalising Mayweather and Pacquiao’s May 2 showdown are “first-name billing, who gets to produce it and what network talent is involved,” to name a few.

Espinoza added that they are trying to work things out. He said that they expect to make significant progress at any time, which means now or in a couple of weeks.

Both Mayweather and Pacquiao’s camps have been recently engaged in deep talks just to make the fight happen, but real progress about the proposed super fight has yet to take place. In an Instagram video that Mayweather posted on Feb. 8, the American fighter can be heard telling Pacquiao that they have to make the fight happen. It was a video taken during their hotel meeting after they met at an NBA game.

Pacquiao, on the other hand, refused to comment on the fight. Pacquiao has just returned to the Philippines after a long trip abroad. The Filipino boxing icon told local news outlet GMA News that fans should just wait for the announcement.

With barely three months before the target May 2 date, both fighters need to reach an agreement soon. If they are unable to come to terms and work out a deal, it would not be the first because Mayweather and Pacquiao have had a series of failed negotiations ever since the thought of the super fight has been brought to the discussion table six years ago.

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