Top Rank CEO Bob Arum is convinced that if Floyd Mayweather opts to have Don King replace Golden Boy as his representative, the now failed superfight with Manny Pacquiao would come to fruition.
Mayweather has been silent since tweeting a picture of himself and Don King together in Puerto Rico on July 30. Mayweather has previously met with King before in April 2009 and 2005 to discuss business. Preceding the King meeting, Mayweather had also met with Miguel Cotto to review the island’s promotional opportunities.
Like most promoters King and Arum have worked together amicably and also had contentious disputes. But on a potential Mayweather-Pacquiao bout both men appear to be on the same page. According to Arum, he recently spoke with King to clear the air should he begin representing Mayweather.
“We had some good laughs. All that old stuff, that old history, is gone now,” Arum told the Examiner’s Michael Marley. “If Mayweather chose Don as his promoter, I have no doubt what would happen. Don and I would go into a locked room. then we’d roll around on the floor for a while. When we came out of the room, we’d have a deal and Manny and Floyd would be fighting each other next.”
As it stands now, Mayweather will not be fighting for the rest of the year. And Pacquiao will be facing Antonio Margarito at 154 pounds in November. Both developments were massive disappointments for fans who expected both camps to have learned from their first aborted negotiations earlier this year.
While Arum did not blame Golden Boy explicitly for talks falling through, he did praise King as a promoter he could work with. Arum pointed out that they previously finalized De La Hoya-Trinidad in 1999. Both men were red-hot, prime and undefeated fighters at the time. The fight went on to sell over 1 million PPVs.
“I fondly remember how we co-promoted Oscar and Don’s guy, Felix Trinidad,” Arum said. “We did over 1.4 million homes on pay per view and we only had 18 to 19 million homes to work with. Now the market is so much better.”
At press time, Don King could not be reached for comment.
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Ironically, before all this King-Mayweather news broke I penned a column on AllHipHop.com arguing that Don King was the only man who could make Mayweather-Pacquiao. I still stand by that. At this point everyone is tired of trying to figure out who to blame and deciphering which excuses are valid. Anyone of working age knows that in the real, professional world people want to see results. And the results of the last year show Top Rank and Golden Boy cannot cooperate when it comes to Mayweather-Pacquiao.
So bring on Don King. Whatever opinion you have of his ethics, he is in business to make the most money possible. That is evidenced from his track record that ranges from Ali-Foreman and Ali-Frazier III to Tyson-Holyfield and Tyson-Lewis. And even this year he was pushing for a Super Six styled 140 pound tournament including Devon Alexander, Timothy Bradley, and Amir Khan.
King knows the fighter’s ego. Not only would he appeal to Mayweather’s money-first philosophy, he would also be upfront and let him know when he was BS’ing in the negotiations. Don King wouldn’t be a yes man, he’d tell Mayweather where compromise is warranted and when it was advisable to stand his ground. Between his current advisers Al Haymon, Leonard Ellerbe and Golden Boy, no one seems to know what the other is doing. And it appears Mayweather sees it too.
I’ll be monitoring this situation closely. Expect many more developments before the year is out.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 
Let’s hope that King can make this happen. I am sick and tired of the egos, politics, and finger pointing. I agree with Floyd that he should get the majority of the purse, but when you stand to make 40-60 million dollars by going 50/50, what’s the problem?