We've all been waiting on the superfight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. Unfortunately for boxing fans and dream-matchup enthusiasts everywhere, promoter Bob Arum will continue to make excuses for both of these fighters until this fight loses its luster.
Pacquiao just re-upped with Arum's company, Top Rank, on a contract that will take him to the end of 2014. In preparation for his Dec. 8 fight with Juan Manuel Marquez, Pac-Man will now have some stability for the future.
But with Arum at the helm, his camp will continue to make excuses as to why these two stars will never be in the ring together.
In early August, Arum teased hopefuls by suggesting that April 2013 would be the date he was targeting for Pac-Man/Mayweather. He met with his fighter in preparation for the upcoming year, which will include planning around the Filipino's schedule in the political arena.
But his excuses have gone through the test of time, and he's done nothing to push this fight on anything other than his terms. With the world of boxing seemingly under his wing, he has leverage that allows him to up and decide that Brandon Rios is a better fight for Pac-Man than Mayweather.
Mayweather helped stir the pot by announcing that Curtis Jackson, known in rap music circles as 50 Cent, will be involved in the promotion process for Money May.
He also announced that Pac-Man is a talented boxer, and that he hoped that this fight would happen in the near future.
With speculation of April in viewers' minds, Arum did what we've all become accustomed to seeing out of the long-time promoter. With Marquez on the horizon and speculation of the next opponent, Arum announced that a completely different card was being targeted for the April bout.
Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado would be the target fight for who would get to take on the 39-year-old Pacquiao next, and Rios was able to win that junior welterweight bout.
That would happen in April, the original target for Pacquiao-Mayweather, and would then see Pac-Man return to his native land in anticipation of the upcoming elections in May. On the campaign train right now, even, the political arena will certainly be a distraction for Pac-Man, even with the opportunity to train at home.
Although some, like veteran referee Tony Weeks, still believe in the magic of these two eventually facing each other.
But as long as Arum is in charge, it's hard to project this fight ever happening. We've wasted so much time between this potential bout that both men would be inevitably less explosive than they are in their current form.
Mayweather isn't about to lose his hand quickness any time soon. Pacquiao probably won't either, but this "dream fight" is built on two men who've been nearly unbeatable over the course of their careers.
If Pac-Man can defeat Marquez on Dec. 8, questions and speculation will start to rage again about when the two fighters could enter the ring. Pacquiao's political career would push anything after Rios into July or August, and who knows what Mayweather would have on deck by then.
Arum promotes his fighters brilliantly, and they reap the benefits financially. But by the time this fight comes around, Arum will have taken three or four good fighting years off the bodies of the two best fighters in the world.
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