Mayweather visits Pacquiao at hotel after NBA meet-up

MANILA, Philippines – Following their chance meeting during an NBA game at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Fla., Floyd Mayweather Jr. personally visited Manny Pacquiao at his hotel to have a closed-door dialogue with boxing’s only eight-division world champion.

Pacquiao’s close friend Bernard Cloma confirmed the private dialogue between the two decorated pugilists in an interview with ABS-CBN’s radio station DZMM, stating that both men had an extensive chat at the living room of the unnamed hotel.

“Yes, Mayweather went to the hotel and visited Manny. They had a long talk,” he said in Filipino.

Although Cloma admitted that he was not inside the room, he stressed that Pacquiao’s wife Jinkee and adviser Michael Koncz were present to oversee the conversation.

Cloma also dismissed FightHype.com’s report that Mayweather told Pacquiao to “stop lying” about signing any contract regarding their long-awaited showdown when the two met at center court during the halftime of the Miami Heat vs. Milwaukee Bucks fixture on Wednesday, January 28.

“That’s not true. He only gave his mobile number to Manny and said that both of them should communicate with each other,” he claimed.

Cloma refused to reveal the other details of the hotel meeting between Pacquiao and Mayweather, but he confidently stressed that the mega-fight will come into fruition.

“It will happen on May 2,” Cloma quipped.

(RELATED: IN MEMES: The Pacquiao-Mayweather courtside meeting)

There have been numerous dialogues between Pacquiao and Mayweather in the past, but for several reasons, the talks always collapsed.

The first negotiations in 2009 fell through after Mayweather demanded Pacquiao to go through random blood testing up to the official weigh-in, which was initially turned down by the Filipino boxing icon.

Mayweather offered Pacquiao $40 million for the fight in 2012, but the American refused to give the latter a share of the pay-per-view revenue, which was deemed unfair by the renowned Pinoy southpaw.

With the potential to break pay-per-view and gate attendance records, the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight has long been considered as the richest bout that can be made in the sport.

Earlier this month, Pacquiao already gave his approval to the terms that were presented to him by Mayweather for a 12-round encounter on May 2 (May 3 in PH) at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena, with a 60/40 purse split that would favor the sport’s pound-for-pound king.

Aside from the date, location and purse split of the heavily-hyped confrontation, Pacquiao, 36, of General Santos City, Philippines also accepted the demand of random pre-fight drug testing.

However, the 37-year-old Mayweather has yet to commit to a marquee match-up that has been more than five years in the making.

Still standing as the crucial point of the negotiation would be securing the pay-per-view network partner as Mayweather maintained on several occasions that that the bout should be broadcasted on Showtime, while Pacquiao is hooked with HBO.

Last week, Pacquiao stressed that he is only giving Mayweather by the end of January to seal the deal.

On the other hand, Mayweather asserted that Pacquiao does not have the right to call the shots and blamed Arum for the delay of the mega-fight.

Further doubts were cast upon the Pacquiao vs. Mayweather duel taking place when the negotiation for an in-ring faceoff between Miguel Cotto and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez broke down.

There is a possibility that Mayweather could choose a rematch with Cotto instead, nearly three years after convincingly outpointing the Puerto Rican slugger. – Rappler.com