What’s keeping Mayweather? Nobody knows

MANILA, Philippines - Nobody knows what’s keeping Floyd Mayweather Jr. from putting his name above dotted line and sealing the fight with Manny Pacquiao.

Earlier this week, the Pacquiao camp said it has agreed to the terms of the fight – from the date to the venue and a 60-40 share of the purse.

Mayweather set the terms, most if not all. Now that Pacquiao has accepted them, all that’s needed is for the American boxer to put his thumbs up.

Everybody involved in the negotiations is saying the fight is “close to happening.”

The latest to say so is Stephen Espinoza, executive vice president and general manager of Showtime Sports, which holds the rights to air Mayweather fights.

Pacquiao is hooked up with HBO.

It could be the last piece of the giant puzzle – how Showtime and HBO could work together in airing the fight that could generate as much as $300 million in revenues.

It’s been done before when Showtime and HBO carried the Mike Tyson versus Lennox Lewis on June 2002 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Pacquiao was in the undercard of that fight. He knocked out Jorge Eliecer Julio in the second round and kept his IBF super-bantamweight title.

Nobody knows if Mayweather has agreed to make the fight but is just waiting for Showtime and HBO to come to terms before he makes an announcement.

Mayweather is the boss. He will say “Yes” when he wants to.

“Floyd is more motivated than ever to get this fight done,” Espinoza told the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Everybody is motivated.

“We at CBS/Showtime are equally motivated,” Espinoza added.

Bob Arum of Top Rank sat down with Pacquiao in Los Angeles the other day. They’re just waiting for Mayweather’s decision.

Pacquiao dared Mayweather to sign the fight contract.

But Pacquiao can’t wait until the end of time because Arum said if the Mayweather fight doesn’t materialize, Pacquiao may fight in April.

“I think Bob was trying to put some pressure on Floyd, but the truth is you don’t need to put pressure on Floyd,” said Espinoza.

Mayweather, the Showtime executive added, has his eyes and ears on what’s going on.

“He truly wants this fight. He and (manager) Al (Haymon) talk two, three times a day. So Floyd’s very aware of what’s going on,” he told the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Yet, he won’t sign.