Unable to materialize what would have been most expected fight for boxing fans against Manny Pacquiao, “Money” could be looking for another opponent.

Boxing fans are very disappointed as their illusions of witnessing a fight between the two greatest boxers in the present time have been dissipated, since the negotiations among Manny Pacquiao and Floyd “Money” Mayweather didn’t reach an agreement. Just a few days later after the deadline set by Bob Arum, Pacquiao hasn’t lose time to find a rival, and his next fight already has name and time: the Mexican Antonio Margarito on November 13th. The only detail pending is where the fight will be held, since the Mexican was suspended by the California State Athletic Commission because of irregularities found in his hand wraps.

Mayweather’s leisure trip to Puerto Rico could have another intention besides vacationing, and it could be to open the negotiations with Miguel Cotto, the 29 year old light middleweight boxer. “Junito’s” last fight was against Israeli Yuri Foreman, who was undefeated until then, when he lost his Super Welterweight Champion title to the Puerto Rican on June 5th, 2010. On the other side, Money’s last fight was this year against Shane Mosley on May 1st, and he won it by unanimous decision.

Tough negotiations ahead

The scenario shows that just like with Pacquiao, getting to an agreement is not going to be something easy, because Money is a free agent and Cotto has a contract with Top Rank, a company to which Mayweather once belonged too, but things didn’t go too well between them. To make things even more complicated, Bob Arum, Top Rank’s CEO, has a poor relationship with Golden Boy Productions. This negatively affects the negotiations because even though Mayweather is a free agent, he is represented by Golden Boy’s CEO Richard Schaefer.

Rivalry between representatives is the greatest obstacle to overcome.

If there is something that Arum must have learned from his recent experience negotiating with Mayweather is that he has no hurry to fight, that putting a deadline would not be useful to get to an agreement. In the near future the only way that this fight can occur is by them putting aside their differences for one fight. Cotto has two more years of contract with Top Rank, and there are no signs of him being uncomfortable with their business relationship. When he was questioned about this fight taking place, he didn’t doubt to affirm that: “if that fight takes place, it is going to take place through the company”, he said in reference to Top Rank.

Other possibilities

Despite these facts, the possible fight is nothing but a speculation from the media after seeing Money in Puerto Rico. The truth is that both of them have their own boxing promoting company, so their business talk not necessarily needs to be focused in them fighting against each other, it could be about promoting their young boxers.

The trip could not even involve business talk, it could be solely for vacationing, and Mayweather’s words saying that he is “not thinking about boxing right now” could be true. Everybody is anxious to see these two champs on the ring, but it looks like we will have to wait a little bit.