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Floyd Mayweather’s refusal to meet with Manny Pacquiao in November of this year this year does not look good for either Mayweather or the sport. After months of negotiations and some big concessions from Pacquiao, there was hope in the boxing world that the fight would be made. We don’t know the ins and outs of the proposed deal, but it is clear that Pacquiao relented on the blood testing up until around 14 days prior to the bout.

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum held a midnight conference call after Mayweather missed the deadline for exclusive negotiating rights exonerating Mayweather from any blame. Arum said that fight fans should understand why Mayweather turned the fight down given his uncle and trainer Roger Mayweather will be facing criminal charges for assault and battery later this year.

But the next day, Mayweather spoke to the Associated Press saying the following:

I’m not interested in rushing to do anything. I’m not really thinking about boxing right now. I’m just relaxing. I fought about 60 days ago, so I’m just enjoying myself, enjoying life, enjoying my family and enjoying my vacation. Like I said, I’m just supporting my family and relaxing. That’s what I’m doing right now.

It is entirely possible that Mayweather has every intention of fighting Pacquiao, just not this year. But if he chooses to fight him at a later date he will contend with the inevitable ring rust, and a possibly more dangerous Pacquaio.  The Filipino just seems to be getting better and better with every fight, and if he is fed another welterweight before getting in with Mayweather, he will be that much more comfortable at the weight. Fighting Pacquiao next year, especially when Mayweather will be 34, does not look like the smartest thing to do.

So why has Mayweather refused the fight, especially after coming off a spectacular performance over Shane Mosley? Is it possible that he sees something in the Filipino dynamo that has given him second thoughts?

Mayweather was given a lot of credit for fighting and dismantling Mosley, a fighter many thought would give him a very tough night. If his heart was in question before the fight, his performance erased most people’s doubts. But the Pacquiao of 2010 is a very different beast, and it may well be that Mayweather doesn’t want anything to do with him.

If you look at the fighters who have given Mayweather the most trouble, they have all been south paws. Demarcus Corley and Zab Judah gave Mayweather hell early on in their fights, rocking the champion on several occasions and in Judah’s case, actually putting him on the canvas (although it was mistakenly called a slip). Pacquiao is both faster and more powerful than Corley and Judah, and also possesses a more complete game. Corley and Judah faded as the rounds wore on and stopped taking risks as Mayweather began to pick them apart. Pacquiao on the other hand, never stops trying and will take ungodly amounts of punishment to reassert himself (just look at his first fight with Erik Morales and two with Juan Manuel Marquez). Mayweather knows that every round with Pacquiao is a dangerous one and his unorthodox punching may take him more than six rounds to figure out. He may have calculated that there is simply too much risk in fighting Pacquiao and has made more than enough money to retire and not fight again.

I am inclined however to give Mayweather the benefit of the doubt, particularly after surviving a torrid second round with Shane Mosley and going on to out fight him for the next 10 rounds. Mayweather showed his heart that night and given his enormous pride and self belief, it is a bit of a stretch to think he fears another fighter his own size.

But the longer the contract with Pacquaio goes unsigned and the weaker the excuses from the Mayweather camp, there is only so long writers and fans will give him that benefit.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Having failed to meet the July 15th deadline, Floyd Mayweather has rejected a multi million dollar bout with Manny Pacquiao. On a midnight conference call, Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum said the following:

“Obviously people want the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. I think the fans are going to be disappointed. They have to realize .. they have to cut Floyd Mayweather some slack. We know his uncle is facing some difficulties in the courts in Nevada. And I can see his reluctance to commit to a big fight with Pacquiao without the services of his uncle.”

Arum has been extremely critical of Mayweather in the past for not agreeing to fight Pacquiao without stringent blood tests, but it seems the veteran promoter believes there are legitimate reasons as to why Mayweather did not agree to the new terms (which included a compromise on the blood tests).

“If boxing fans begrudge him that, that’s really sad,” said Arum of Mayweather’s reasoning. “I really believe people should be understanding.”

There is however, a glimmer of hope that the fight will still happen. The deadline was for exclusivity, meaning Arum promised not to negotiate with anyone else during that period. Now Arum will begin talks with other fighters for a super fight at a higher weight.

“The deadline was the end of the exclusivity period,” said Arum. “Now I have to go out and secure an opponent for Manny Pacquiao, assuming he won’t fight Floyd.”

And it looks like the two options are Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto at 154lbs – two of Arums own fighters.

There will be little desire to see a rematch between Pacquiao and Cotto given the drubbing Pacquiao laid on him when they met in 2009, and Margarito isn’t huge at the box office so whoever he fights will be somewhat of a let down for fight fans around the world. Let’s hope Mayweather considers hiring his father as his trainer and comes back to the negotiating table.

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The always quote worthy Mike Tyson on the biggest losses of his career:

Details: Why do you think you lost your first bout, to James “Buster” Douglas in 1990?
Mike Tyson: I just stopped caring. I just stopped feeling Cus inside me. All those headlines. I didn’t care about boxing. And when Douglas got up after I knocked him down and came back at me—I didn’t have it in me. I didn’t have it in me when I knocked him down, either. It’s just…more power to him, he got up. Nobody else had.

Details: And what about the infamous Holyfield fight?
Mike Tyson: Man, I didn’t care about boxing anymore. I was wrong to do that—all wrong—all crazy to do that. But that wasn’t about boxing. I just wanted to fucking maim him. I had no business being in that ring. A year out of prison, 16 months out of prison, already with two belts to defend? I had no business with those belts. I was already done. They put you, a writer, in prison, for three years, hands tied behind your back. Then they put you up against some hack, and you outwrite him, and they give you two awards. And then I put you up against a Nobel Prize winner? Absurd.

Tyson has put his losses to Douglas and Holyfield down to lack of focus and desire, but in truth, they were the first men to truly stand up to him in the ring. While Mike will always be regarded as a great fighter, his psychological fragility made him vulnerable to men who could take his punches and come back at him. For those reasons, Tyson will never be considered alongside fighters like Ali, Foreman and Louis, men who could take just as much as they could give.

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Famed boxing trainer Freddie Roach was more than impressed with UFC’s welter weight champion George St Pierre stating that the Canadian picked up everything he taught him during his time at the Wild Card gym. “[George] is like a sponge,’ said Roach. “He took in what I taught him and really practiced. He would come back the next day and know the move, I’d say ‘You went home and practiced that move all night long’ and he would just smile at me.”

On a personal note, St Pierre trained at my Jiu Jitsu academy when he was out here a couple of weeks ago – unfortunately while I was sick and in bed. From all the reports from my gym, he was an incredibly humble guy and a pleasure to train with. I’m hoping he will return and I get a chance to meet him, and I promise an interview if he has the time.

Check out the interview with Fight Hub TV here: