Is There Really a July 16 Deadline for Mayweather-Pacquiao?

Last week Top Rank CEO and Manny Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum stated that Floyd Mayweather has until tomorrow to sign a contact for a November 13 fight. But is this an Arum smokescreen, or a legit deadline agreed upon by both parties?

Floyd Mayweather’s camp has been very quiet since rumored closed-door negotiations began with Pacquiao’s camp. Floyd Mayweather himself has not even acknowledged that talks have been ongoing since the news broke in June, stating a charity function early last month that he was interested in taking two years off from the sport.

“Floyd Mayweather is taking a year off or a couple of years off from boxing. I don’t really know what the future holds for him,” Mayweather said during a Make-A-Wish Foundation event. “As I said, I want to take a year off from boxing. I’m taking a couple years off… away from the sport of boxing. I want to devote my time to my boxing gym.”

Even Bob Arum, who earlier this year was giving daily media criticism to Mayweather before the first negotiations collapsed, seemed to have turned over a new leaf and was willing honor an alleged legal agreement for both sides to keep quiet about contract details.

“I can’t even say that conversations are going on,” Arum stated a few weeks ago.

Now, Arum is suddenly his outspoken self from earlier this year, flatly declaring Mayweather has until midnight Pacific Time on Friday (July 16) to sign a contract that has undisclosed “provisions” for drug testing leading up to the November 13 date. If Mayweather doesn’t respond, Arum has verified that Pacquiao will look to rematch Cotto at 154 pounds, or face the U.S.-banned Antonio Margarito in Mexico.

Many will recall Arum used a similar tactic in late January and early February. He began negotiations to pit Pacquiao with in-house fighter Joshua Clottey even while Mayweather’s side was still attempting to compromise on the Olympic drug testing cut off date to salvage the fight.

This time, Arum has gone a little further by posting a “Money Time Countdown” on their Twitter page.

At press time, representatives from Mayweather’s camp nor Golden Boy Promotions have made any recent comments about the fight.

If there was really a legal provision for a media gag, I doubt Bob Arum would be making so making statements about the negotiations. It’ll makes you wonder if the talks really got extensive or were just informal preliminary meetings. But without any comments from Floyd’s side, it’s hard to determine the truth of where this fight stands.

The only thing readily apparent is that fans and writers are tired of the soap opera. We’ve all witnessed or read about muddled negotiations before, from Ali and Frazier taking 3 years to finalize their rematch to Sugar Ray Leonard’s hardball negotiation tactics with Marvin Hagler. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a case where the constant bickering and delays have made both sides look equally incompetent. The fact that each camp would rather put themselves at risk in lesser fights (financially and legacy-wise) while their the greatest career achievement is a mere signature away is absolutely mind-boggling.

I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but something tells me to expect to hear the “big announcement” of Pacquiao-Margarito in Mexico tomorrow.