Could the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao finally be happening? According to one sports writer, Mark Malinowski the “stars are aligning” and that the super fight between the top pound-for-pound boxers today is very close to being finalised.
Malinowski is claiming that the pressure is on for Al Haymon and Stephen Espinoza, two key figures that are in control of what’s next for Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2015. Malinowski mentioned an unnamed source who has shared to him that CBS Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Leslie Moonves has already given the ultimatum to Espinoza, the general manager and executive vice president of Showtime Sports, to make the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao become a reality later this year.
“CBS CEO Les Moonves has given Showtime boxing head Stephen Espinoza the ultimatum to deliver Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao… Or else,” Malinowski stated in his article at ringobserver.com. “If he can’t deliver Floyd, Espinoza will be out of a job. And Haymon will also be out because the new boxing boss will not work with Haymon beyond the final two contracted Mayweather fights. So Haymon, already banned from HBO, will in effect be banned at Showtime.”
Malinwoski also speculated that Haymon will be pressured to ultimately agree with Espinoza on making Mayweather vs. Pacquiao happen because Haymon needs the money he’s earning coming from Showtime to develop his own boxing stable. Haymon recently signed a deal with the NBC network wherein Mayweather’s adviser/manager paid NBC roughly $20 million and get the air time to promote his own fighters.
As early as November 2014, there were reports that Moonves already met with Top Rank Promotions CEO Bob Arum and Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach laying the groundwork for the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao negotiations. Most recently, the Pacquiao camp has thrown an ultimatum to Mayweather’s camp saying that they have until the end of January to decide if they want the fight or not.
With this latest update, it appears the dominos are indeed falling in favour of the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao super fight; CBS chief Moonves putting pressure on Espinoza, who in turn will put the same pressure on Haymon, who will try to convince Mayweather to finally accept the bout against Pacquiao
on to make them both look like Aaron Pryor against Alexis Arguello?
Eric Morales.. Ill give the guy credit if he can manage to beat just 1 top 10 ww at 147 (and no I dont count Broner) then again hes signed to Haymon so we might never see that
