Phil D. Jay
WBN Editor
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.