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Mayweather’s May 5th date will end Pacquiao hopes

Phil D. Jay 
WBN Editor
Arum looking at larger arena than MGM Grand

Top Rank CEO Bob Arum has claimed that his star fighter Manny Pacquiao is willing to face Floyd Mayweather in May but not on the date set by and booked for Floyd Mayweather Jr. on the 5th of the month.

Arum, who has been accused of stalling on the fight that everybody wants made, is adamant that the 16,000 seater MGM Grand is not big enough to stage a fight as huge as the welterweight unification is set to be and other options should be explored.

"May 5 is out for us, it can't happen, because we want to explore the idea of getting an arena up on the streets of Las Vegas that can seat 40,000," Arum told The LA Times."The end of May is a possibility."

"Having the fight in a 40,000-seat arena rather than a 16,000-seat arena seems like a no-brainer."

Congressman Pacquiao, 33, is currently in the Philippines and due to speak with Arum in the coming days - but according to the 80 year-old promoter, won’t be ready to fight Mayweather on May 5th whatever happens.

"I don't know that he's on schedule to start sparring until the beginning of April," Arum said. "That's one of the things we'll discuss. If it is early April, we'll have to have the fight in late May."

Arum was then questioned as to whether Pacquiao confirmed that wanted the Mayweather fight, to which he bluntly replied: "Yeah."

Two more names have since entered the frame for Mayweather as Leonard Ellerbe hinted that an opponent was already in the pipeline by stating: “"We'll make an announcement about who we're going to fight next week. We just came out of the court hearing, give us a chance to catch our breath,” he stated as Mayweather was given a five-month reprieve from a 90-day prison term.

WBC light-middleweight champion Saul Alvarez was first to be linked and in the last few hours, Robert Guerrero has emerged as a frontrunner in the race to nail down the May 5th bout against the pound for pound king.

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