By Alex P. Vidal/ PNS
BOSTON, Massachusetts – Now it can be told. Flamboyant Floyd Mayweather Jr. wanted to preserve his unblemished record and did not want to risk it by agreeing to fight Filipino lefty Manny Pacquiao this year.
“With all his legal problems and after that ridiculous, racist rant of his (on video), I don’t know if it happens,” Orange County Register scribe Mark Whicker quoted Top Rank chief executive Bob Arum in an article dated October 10, 2010.
Arum said: “It certainly looks like Floyd doesn’t want to fight him. I just think he would feel a lot of emotional trauma if he lost his zero (as in his 41-0 record).”
Mayweather has officially been charged with felony counts of coercion, robbery and grand larceny — as well as four misdemeanors — for the alleged domestic incident with his baby’s mother in Las Vegas.
MISDEMEANORS
According to the Clark County District Attorney the misdemeanors are battery, and three counts of harassment.
As reported earlier, Josie Harris claims the boxer beat her, threatened to kill her, and stole her cell phone during the alleged incident on September 9.
The coercion and harassment counts include alleged threats Mayweather made against his sons. According to the docs, the boxer threatened to beat his kids’ asses if they “called 911 and/or left the residence.”
If convicted of all charges, Floyd could spend up to 28 years behind bars.
Pacquiao was supposed to square off with Mayweather earlier this year but ended up fighting Joshua Clottey in a 12-round WBO welterweight championship at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas last March 13.
In an apparent delaying tactic, Mayweather blasted Pacquiao’s refusal to undergo an Olympic-style blood test to determine whether the popular Filipino fighter was using drugs. Pacquiao has denied using prohibited substances and threatened to sue Mayweather if he did not apologize.
Arum, 78, did everything to lure Mayweather to fight Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KO’s) before the year ends but the black American fighter proved slippery and offered excuses to dodge the rich deal that would have netted both boxers at least $45 million each.
He and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had told reporters during the post Pacquiao versus Clottey match that Cowboys Stadium would be a perfect venue for the proposed Pacquiao versus Mayweather match.
Unable to ink the deal after several negotiations, Arum was obliged to summon tall Hispanic sensation Antonio Margarito to duke it out with Pacquiao for the WBC light middleweight championship on November 13 at the Cowboys Stadium.
Pacquiao, now a member of the Philippine legislature, will have to relinquish his WBO 147-lb crown to dispute with Margarito (38-6, 27 KO’s) the WBC 152-lb jewels for 12 rounds.
‘THE PUNISHER’
Arum appears to be not keen anymore on pursuing the Pacquiao-Mayweather fisticuffs as he hinted of the possibility of Pacquiao facing Paul “The Punisher” Williams (33-0, 24 KO’s) in March 2011.
Another name being penciled to face Pacquiao in his next fight is Tim “Desert Storm” Bradley, Jr., “provided Bradley gets healthy and beats Devon Alexander,” wrote Whicker.
Bradley (26-0, 11 KO’s) is a former world light welterweight champion and resembles like Mayweather.
Arum is currently promoting Top Ranks’ next project featuring Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. in Anaheim, California on December 4.
“And don’t forget, we’ve priced these seats right because of the way the economy is,” Arum announced during a promotional tour of the December 4 card at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California recently. “Almost every seat will be either $50 to $30. So I think it’s going to be a great crowd and a great night of boxing.”