News out of Vegas and the Philippines is that Pacquiao-Mayweather negotiations are continuing amid a growing and heated fan backlash. Emotions are running high as everyone, including the great and mighty of boxing both past and present, is coming out of the woodwork expressing dismay and disgust at the drawn out negotiations. As the process stalls and public sentiment turns against Mayweather, interest in the fight with Pac is actually growing not abating: enter Al Haymon, Mayweather’s shadowy advisor and erstwhile puppet-master.
For all the self-serving rhetoric about being his own boss, the self-styled best-ever depends on Haymon to do his bidding. Possessing both a strong intellect and world-class business acumen Haymon’s approach is brilliant for its simplicity; pursue a course for fighters that is low risk, high reward. While this may not be an action-plan that is in the best interest of boxing, it certainly is in the best interest of the fighters he represents. If the tables were turned it is asking a lot to expect anyone to act on behalf of the greater good at the expense of one’s own good. But this is just what is being asked of fighters these days and Al Haymon, Jim Lampley’s disgust notwithstanding, will have none of it.
While Mike Koncz suggests that there is positive movement, fans are well past tired of the snail-paced negotiations. On top of this Mayweather is, it would appear, harassing fans with tweets and Instagrams ignoring the fight and trumpeting his wealth and lifestyle. As recently as Friday he took to Instagram to ask fans which of his expensive vast array of shoes he should wear and to guess which pair of sunglasses he would wear that day. Mayweather does this knowing that fans are thirsting for information on negotiations. As it turns out, fans getting angry and riled up leaves only a broad smile on Haymon’s face.
Off the record, word out of the Mayweather inner circle is that as Money May stalls and appears to thumb his nose at the Pac-fight, boxing’s establishment and its fan base, he is really doing one thing, what his puppet-master Al Haymon is advising him to do. Haymon like Mayweather, is not about the business of pleasing fight fans, rather he is interested in increasing his profits in the lowest risk manner possible. In this wise Lampley got it exactly right in suggesting that Mayweather and Haymon share the same basic business approach. And while Mayweather claims that he wants to please the fans and give them the fights they want he rather arrogantly demonstrates that he wants to feed his hedonistic lifestyle and take only the fights he wants to take. The translation of course is he takes only those fights that have the look and feel of high reward and low risk.
If one were to poll recent articles on the current status of the negotiations, one would find a dearth of salient or actionable information. What information is coming out is issuing forth from either the Pacquiao camp or from boxing writers and fans trying to make sense of things. Make no mistake, if Mayweather is feeling cornered he is going to milk this process and in so doing, create more interest. While it may seem counter intuitive to some, this relative silence is actually a tried and tested way to create more interest and ultimately more revenue.
This is the brilliance of the quietude and self-serving Instagrams and tweets. In riling up the fan-base, especially the Filipino fan base, Mayweather and Haymon assure themselves that the fight will continue to grow in magnitude and stature. It is clear that Mayweather and Haymon never wanted this fight but as the pressure has grown and Money May’s legacy is now at risk, both he and Haymon see the writing on the wall. Since they have been backed into a corner and have to take the fight, they realize that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain by playing economic hardball. They can and will wait this out and get the financial deal they both want and let the boxing establishment and fans be damned.
As Mayweather stalls the prospective fight with Pac-man he doesn’t mind being the bad guy, it is actually a part of a broad Al Haymon-dictated, puppet-master strategy. Money May, by most accounts, even his son’s, is not just a bad guy that is scared of losing his undefeated record and afraid of getting hurt and embarrassed, his actions appear to demonstrate that he is greedy beyond measure. With pressure mounting forcing a fight, he might as well get paid for what he assumes will be a painful and rather embarrassing spring evening in Las Vegas. And come hell-or-high-water, he and Haymon are planning on dragging everyone along the way.
Commentary by Matthew R. Fellows
Sources:
Photo By: Victor Nuno – Flickr License
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20 Responses
Brilliant piece
If he’s looking for the lowest risk then he should fight, Algieri lol
It will be one sided like the Manny Pacquiao vs Algerie, Algieri being gayweather!!!!!
That sounds about right… on all accounts.
Who wrote this article Matthew. Fellows he been sleep for the last 5 years , those r some of the most ignorant comments ever, racism against mayweather every body in boxing knows the fight would have happened it Manny had taken the random test u guys muse think people can’t think , arum has one excuse after another floyd is the a side Matthew open your ears and eyes or don’t write nonsense get the fact
Dumb article he clearly doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about, a waste of time.
What else can I say…. Floyd Mayweather is Boko Haram of Boxing.
I think the fight will be materialized if everyone in the boxing world shall unite and have one stand and will summon the two boxers, Mayweather and Paquiao, to come up to an agreement.,.. If they found out whose delaying or evading this to happen, then the boxing bodies must ban that fighter…
A little too late for a fighter who only has 2 fights before retiring and last 2 fights guarantee by Showtime, tell Bob arum to put pacman up against stiff competition since JMM and you probably can fight mayweather on even financial ground.
There are more writers who see the real truth about Floyd and Al Haymon…Floyd fans because of their blind love would continue to blame Arum and Pacquaio…Typical…
Boycott gayweather’s fights if not against pac-man and let us all see what happens!
Mayweather knows the game and he is aware that raising the stakes high would only arouse those hard core fans of his and at the same time anger those that pays to see him lose. Good combination,,,,a win win but all things have limits that kicks in when the breaking point is reached. We don’t know that point yet and possibly still a distant future and that is because his Tango partner whose almost sole reason is the fans to enjoy what he gives no matter what – is Manny Pacquiao.
I agree, hayman and maynever always finding way to escape the gratitude provided by magnitude.i don’t care of this happening in may i actually tired of all alibis.
Boxing Bodies such as WBC,WBA,IBF,PROMOTERS, SHOWTIME,HBO MUST UNITE to show whose the BOSS!
watch out for the terrible beating…the beating of his life… a punishment with vengeance that Mayweather won’t forget through out his grave.
floyd just said he is a rich coward and express health concern what possible can happen during fight…floydie remember its your fans that makes you rich they pay to watch you, imagine if no one will wathch ur fight,can you make money?youve just said boxing is dangerous sport and life treathening..how come your just telling it now? you now the risk before you start your career and now your already rich because of your fans and your telling everybody if sumthing happen to you in the ring you can approach anybody to ask for money when your in bad health..thats not the reason ur fans already give you the money ahead..
The fight will not happen. Fearweather is afraid of Pacquiao.
Good article. I just realized that Mayweather really has a lot of inconsistent ducking excuses over the years. He said before health comes first, then now he values money? Bob Arum may have his share of the blame in failing to make the fight, but Al Haymon’s reluctance to appear in the out gives him an unfair positive perception to the public compared to Arum. What I think is that Arum and Pacquiao should really accept less reasonable (but not unrealistic) terms and share for the fight to happen.
Clarification: While Al Haymon is technically Mayweather’s “advisor” he himself has referred to Haymon as his “Manager.” The title is semantic so no, I’m not inclined to change his title. If if quacks like a duck . . .:=_
Thought provoking article … It’s all about greed!