Now What?

The news arrived in a press release on Sunday afternoon - Floyd Mayweather, scheduled to face Juan Manuel Marquez on July 18th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, would be forced out of that assignment due to a rib injury.

So now what?

"I really don't have any updates, as of yet," said Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer on Monday afternoon. "It really is driven by the doctor’s opinion, Floyd is going to see the doctor again this week and we will then see what is the earliest date we can reschedule the fight for."

The hope is that Mayweather-Marquez will take place on September 19th at the same venue.

There has been speculation that perhaps Mayweather pulled out of this fight to instead face a Miguel Cotto or Manny Pacquiao in the late fall. But Schaefer stated to Maxboxing that, "Both Mayweather and Marquez are committed to the fight. We had conversations with HBO, with sponsors, as well as with the venue, and we will know more once we find out about how Floyd is feeling. I'm told he's in a tremendous amount of pain and so we are very concerned about that and we hope he's going to feel better soon and is going to be able to resume his training. He was very disappointed, devastated - everything was lined up and planned.

“He obviously had in his mind that he's going to take care of this fight with Marquez and then was looking forward to a showdown later on in the year, another big fight, be it with Pacquiao or a Shane Mosley. Obviously, this injury now derails these plans and it looks like he's only going to be fighting once this year."

According to Bob Arum, Pacquiao-Mayweather will not take place in 2009 with this latest development.

“What he did with this injury," said the veteran promoter from his offices in Las Vegas on Monday, "is put himself out of all consideration for a Pacquiao fight this year. He clearly did because obviously the earliest he'll be able to postpone it would be September 19th, and obviously even if he knocked the guy out in one round, you couldn't schedule another fight this year."

Arum has been told by 'the Pac Man', who watched this past weekend’s fight at the Madison Square Garden between Cotto and Joshua Clottey, to make his next bout for November the 14th.

“My orders are to make a fight with Miguel Cotto and I assume I'll be able to do that; if I can't, I'll look to Shane Mosley," said Arum. Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, is asking for a catch-weight of 144, while Cotto's people would settle for 145. Arum says, "I assume that's not going to be an issue."

Arum doesn't buy all the conspiracy theories surrounding Mayweather's ailment.

“I believe the injury is legitimate, because yes, the fight wasn't doing well in July and maybe it'll do better in September - which is certainly a more appropriate date. But it's clear that he now has to look to next year to fight Pacquiao, assuming he's able to beat Cotto."

ICEBERG AVERTED?

It really is anyone’s guess if Mayweather is really hurt or not and certainly a lot has been written as to the 'real' reason this event was pulled. It was no secret within the industry that the fight was struggling at the box office. Sources tell Maxboxing that no more than 3,000 tickets were sold, and ticket brokers weren't exactly rushing to put in orders. It's difficult to have a secondary market when there isn't much of a demand for the event to begin with. Not only was this fight seen as a physical mismatch in many circles, the tickets (which ranged from $1,000 to $150) seemed a bit pricey, particularly in this current economy.

But this promotion seemed doomed from the start. Not only is July a tough month in terms of pay-per-view (usually promoters and networks try and steer clear from the dog days of summer) but it's traditionally a slow period for Las Vegas (something about those 110-degree nights). This event also was most likely going to be overshadowed by UFC 100, which is expected to be a gala event, and one that also takes place in 'Sin City' on July 11th. That card sold-out in mere minutes.

There is also the harsh reality - which seems pretty clear now - that Marquez, for all his greatness, was the third banana behind the likes of Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales, and never considered a real draw, even among the hardcore Mexican fans. As for Mayweather, his claims of being the biggest draw in boxing based on his fights versus Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton seem to ring hollow. In both events, he was the clear B-side of the equation.

For him to claim he was the driving reason that those promotions did the numbers they did would be like Sasha Vujacic telling his grandkids in the future that on the night of January 22nd, 2006, when the Lakers defeated the Toronto Raptors at the Staples Center, that he and Kobe Bryant combined for 84 points to lead the purple and gold to victory. (For you that don't follow the NBA, that was the game where 'the Black Mamba' went off for 81.)

September 19th seems like a much better date for this particular promotion, because no matter how you slice it, Marquez is Mexican, at the very least. And this weekend, for about the past decade-and-a-half, has been designated as a regular pay-per-view slot. But if you look back, the biggest numbers on this platform have been produced by one common denominator - Oscar De La Hoya. Unfortunately, on this night - should this fight be rescheduled for this date - he'll be ringside with a credential around his neck.

And here's another factor - Mexicans are a bit more discerning than some would like to believe. Will they really show up in droves or drive up pay-per-view sales for a fight where their guy is such a decided underdog? Mexican boxing fans like to see Mexican boxers win. They’re not forking over their hard-earned money to see their man get thrashed. Trust me, I've asked more than a few out here in Montebello/East L.A. about this issue. There is a certain irony of seeing a Mexican trying to overcome steep odds on Mexican Independence Day weekend.

But this date is the lesser of two evils. Getting off of July 18th is akin to the Titanic steering clear of a certain iceberg. The question is, will this promotion float a month later?

NOT YET

Top Rank and Golden Boy had planned to stage a pay-per-view show on September 19th based around a fight between WBC lightweight titlist Edwin Valero and Joel Casamayor. I mean, is there any better way to celebrate Mexican Independence Day than a hook-up between a Venezuelan and Cuban? But seriously, rational thinking prevailed.

"Both Bob and I felt that it was just not enough of a pay-per-view card," said Schaefer. "We just didn't feel that we could put the pay-per-view together where we could both feel proud about and feel good about it. So we said, 'Look, we're definitely not going to do a pay-per-view' and we basically walked away from the date, both Bob and I did. We were not planning on doing anything. We were trying hard with HBO. Bob was in New York last week to see if we could convince HBO to go live that weekend but because of budgetary reasons, they couldn't do it and so we decided we weren't going to go September 19th."

But things changed with Mayweather-Marquez being postponed.

"So obviously this happened, now, the injury, so we are holding the MGM Grand, I'm holding the pay-per-view date and we just have to see the next few days what's going to happen with Floyd."

As for Valero-Casamayor, Arum says, "We have pay-per-view dates that will probably be in October or maybe the week later in September."

Source: maxboxing.com