Ellerbe "confident" Pac will make Arum do the Floyd deal

Despite reticence by Manny Pacquiao's promoter to entertain a Floyd Mayweather fight, Leonard Ellerbe said he is confident that the Filipino star will force negotiations to turn in that direction later this year.

Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions, said he doesn't think it's necessary to push promoter Bob Arum to make the long-awaited Mayweather-Pacquiao bout, because Pacquiao himself must do it.

"I think Manny Pacquiao is going to step up and say, 'I want to fight Floyd Mayweather,'" Ellerbe said. "He is an honorable guy, his country admires him, and I think he'll step up. Otherwise, he'll disappoint his own fans, and I don't think he'll do that.

"In my opinion, the fighter needs to step up and tell the promoter, 'This is what I really want to do,' if it's really what he wants to do. I know what the fans want. I truly believe Manny Pacquiao will step up and make the fight happen. At the end of the day, the fighter should have the say-so on who he gets in the ring with."

Pacquiao defeated Juan Manuel Marquez on a close, majority decision Saturday night, in their third meeting, of which he won two, with the other fight ending in a draw.

That result, and Mayweather's stated intention that he wants to negotiate for a fight with Pacquiao next spring, left many hoping that boxing's biggest potential matchup finally might materialize.

But in the aftermath of Saturday's fight, Arum said his intent is to make Pacquiao-Marquez IV next spring. Their previous fights were in 2004 and 2008.

"They could make that fight anytime," Ellerbe said. "When Floyd knocks out Manny Pacquiao, that fight will still be there. They can still make that fight after the chapter on Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao is closed."

Ellerbe said the Mayweather camp enlisted the help of retired federal judge Daniel Weinstein -- whose 11th-hour mediation attempt, in January 2010, failed to resolve broken negotiations in the first talks between Mayweather and Pacquiao -- to act as a liaison between the two sides.

Weinstein informed Golden Boy Promotions this week, via email, that Arum has no interest in negotiating, Ellerbe said.

Ellerbe and Mayweather long have insisted that Arum is intent on blocking the fight, even after Pacquiao agreed to Mayweather's demands for Olympic-style drug testing administered by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

"As business people, our team, we've put egos and everything aside, and we want to make a deal for the good of the sport," Ellerbe said. "The fans deserve a fight like this. You have to put egos aside. But when someone has a different agenda, it makes it difficult. I've challenged them, personally, to give the fans what they want."

The best hope for the fight, Ellerbe said, is for Pacquiao to assert control over his own matchmaking and tell Arum to negotiate for a Mayweather fight.

"I'm still optimistic," Ellerbe said. "I'm pretty confident that Manny Pacquiao is going to step up and say he wants to fight Floyd Mayweather."

If that doesn't happen, Ellerbe said the Mayweather camp will proceed with plans for a fight next May, using the same formula it has used since talks with Pacquiao initially failed over a period of several weeks in December 2009 and January 2010.

"We'll try to make the biggest fight that's out there," Ellerbe said.

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You guys still fighting this fight? At what point do you guys accept that the only thing holding thing up is Pac's camp?

 

Basically.