After Mayweather and Pacquiao personally met to discuss the terms of their supposed mega-bout on May 2, fans have grown more optimistic than ever, although no official announcement has been made.
Recently, Mayweather posted a photo of him and Pacquiao allegedly at the latter's hotel suite in Miami when they met to negotiate the fight. The two boxers communicated for over an hour during their meeting to iron out the terms of the deal, particularly that concerning their existing contracts with networks Showtime and HBO.
Daily Mail reported that Mayweather shared the photo and wrote, "I set up this meeting with Manny Pacquiao to get this fight done but they will continue to tell the public it's us (who are holding up the negotiations) and that's NOT TRUE."
Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, told ESPN on February 2, "The thing that really concerns me is that we are running out of time for May 2. If you want to drag this out a little longer then move the fight to later in May -- May 30 is a good date -- or go in June. We agreed to go on May 2 because that is the date Mayweather is hung up on, but if we're going to go on May 2 we need to get this done."
Pacquiao previously gave Mayweather the ultimatum to accept his challenge by the end of January. The supposed fight is less than three months away with no definite deal yet in place. Pacquiao extended his January 31 deadline while Arum has agreed to Mayweather's demands including the 60-40 split of the fight purse in favor of the American boxer, a drug testing protocol, the venue, date, fight name and introductions. There are still issues to work out, one insider said in the same ESPN report.
Ken Hershman, HBO president, said in the same Daily Mail report, "We're here to stand by and help wherever we can to make this fight happen. We're not an impediment to that happening, and we'll do what's necessary from our end. Then, it's up to the principals."
According to another ESPN report, despite Arum's claims, he is not actually involved in the talks between Showtime and HBO.
Showtime Sports executive VP Stephen Espinoza said that no deal has been reached yet. Espinoza said, "There are a few significant issues remaining on both the fighter side and the network side of this deal. While we are optimistic, it's a bit premature to say that the networks are in total agreement."