Bob Arum Calls Floyd Mayweather Jr. 'Chicken' For Stalling, Undefeated Champion Leaning Towards Rematch With Miguel Cotto

Boxing promoter Bob Arum is showing his frustrations over the lack of progress in the negotiations for the proposed super fight between Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Manny Pacquaio. The 84-year-old Top Rank Chief Executive Officer (CEO) labelled the undefeated welterweight champion a “chicken” for causing the delay and the potential derailing of the talks given that his ward and camp have already agreed to most of the terms of the match and are just awaiting Mayweather’s side to agree.

“Everybody knows that Manny accepted the terms that were negotiated for the fight, including CBS and his management with Al Haymon, but Floyd Mayweather once again throw the fight because he’s a chicken,” Arum told Azteca Sports.

Arum has been on the negotiating table for a month with other key personalities such as Mayweather’s chief adviser Haymon, HBO’s Richard Pletter, and CBS’ Les Moonves. They have been trying to put up a fight that will be co-presented by the two television giants much like the way they held the Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson match in 2002. Pacquiao’s side has agreed to most of the terms of the fight including the 60-40 revenue split, venue, date, drug testing and boxing gloves specifications more than a week ago.

The silence from Mayweather’s camp and the lack of updates as soon as the ball was thrown to the American’s court have led speculations to start that the undefeated champion will bow out of the negotiations yet again. HBO commentator Jim Lampley has opined that it is very likely that the May 2 date will go to the rematch between Mayweather and Miguel Cotto which would likely erode for good any chance of the super fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather happening in this era.

Pacquiao has given an end of the month deadline to Mayweather to respond to his challenge but so far, the Filipino boxer is getting nothing but radio silence on that front. It is unclear if the latest diatribe from Arum would just widen the gaping wound between both sides as Mayweather has been vocal in the past of not letting his former promoter get any cent from his fights. Arum has revealed he has given up a number of concessions to make the bout a reality including agreeing to a dual promotion with Mayweather Promotions despite it not having any history of putting up a fight card.

Watch Lapley predict the Mayweather-Cotto rematch as the match to be slotted into the May 2 fight date: