Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao: Super Bowl of boxing could be signed ‘in next couple of days’

Photo Credit: Miami Heat Twitter account.
Photo Credit: Miami Heat Twitter account.

As the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks prepare to duke it out on the football field in the NFL’s Super Bowl Sunday, the boxing world’s version of the event could be a done deal by then, as reports state that a Floyd Mayweather Jr. versus Manny Pacquiao deal is near.

Geroge Mills of the New York Post reported that Top Rank CEO Bob Arum said that the much-anticipated fight could be signed by the weekend’s end.

“Everybody is doing the right thing,” Arum told The NY Post Friday. “We’re looking to complete the paperwork. Everything is moving in the right direction. Hopefully, the next couple of days it will get done.”

When the hype behind a possible Mayweather-Pacquiao super-bout began to fizzle a bit after strong rumors of the pending bout throughout January, a chance meeting at the Miami Heat versus Milwaukee Bucks game earlier this week lead to the two fighters meeting at Pac-man’s hotel to discuss the bout on a personal level.

The key topic according to reports was hashing out the television deal that would involve HBO (Pacquiao) and CBS/Showtime (Mayweather) and how the bout would be produced.

With that issue said to be taken care of at their around hour long chat, everything looks to be in place to finally give the fans the fight they have waited half a decade to witness.

“The issues are being narrowed down to extraordinarily small points,” Arum said. “I’m optimistic it will all be put together in the next couple of days.”

With the blizzard that affected the northeast, cancelling and delaying flights, it looks like mother nature had enough of the two fighters ducking each other and lead the two to their first in person meeting ever.

The bout is set to be held at Mayweather’s home away from home (albeit just a few miles away from his main Las Vegas residence) the MGM Grand on May 2, which is fine with Arum, but he wishes a larger venue could of been agreed upon, to let more fans witness the event live.

The Grand Garden in the MGM seats around 16,800 total for a boxing event, which can net all involved around a $40 million live gate with increased pricing levels.

“To me it doesn’t do boxing justice being in a small arena like that,” Arum said. “But if that’s what it takes to make the fight, that’s what we’ll do.”

Another source of revenue is the closed-circut seats sold throughout MGM’s sister properties across the Strip. For Mayweather’s bout against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in 2013, the MGM sold over 26,000 closed-circuit seats that amassed just over $2.6 million dollars more.

Super Sunday could become an even bigger day in the sports world, as the announcement of the fight of the decade could send sports fans worldwide into a frenzy long after the Patriots and Seahawks settle their differences on the field.