The story appears on

Page A13

November 18, 2009

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Sports » Boxing

Bets taken on unannounced 'richest' bout

THE fight hasn't been made yet, and may not ever happen. But this city's casinos are already taking bets on who will win if the Philippines' Manny Pacquiao and American Floyd Mayweather Jr ever get into the ring.

Pacquiao, coming off his dominating win over Miguel Cotto, opened as an 8-5 favorite at sports books operated by Station Casinos, and it didn't take long for bettors to take a side. Several US$20,000 bets were put down on Mayweather, forcing the line down to 7-5 in the early going, said Art Manteris, the casino operator's vice president of sports book operations.

"It's been pretty decisive in the early going," Manteris said. "I think I made the line a little too high but that's the nature of the business."

Manteris said he made Pacquiao the favorite based largely on the public perception of his big win over Cotto. Most of the early bets, he said, came from professional handicappers, who thought the line was too high.

Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum said he was ready to begin negotiations with Mayweather's promoter on a fight, while Mayweather issued a statement on Monday saying he wanted to hear from Pacquiao himself that he really wants the fight.

"Tell Manny Pacquiao to be his own man and stop letting everyone, including his loudmouth trainer, talk for him," Mayweather said. "I am my own boss, speak for myself and tell it like it is. If Manny Pacquiao wants to fight me, all he has to do is step up to the plate and say it himself."

Pacquiao said last month he didn't think Mayweather wanted to fight him, and criticized the undefeated fighter for fighting too defensively and not trying to entertain fans.

His trainer, Freddie Roach, said after the Cotto fight that Pacquiao would be more than happy to fight Mayweather, but that Mayweather wasn't going to dictate the terms of the fight. Talks will likely be difficult, especially when it comes to issue of revenue sharing.

The fight, though, has the possibility of becoming the richest ever and many in boxing assume that there is far too much money to be made for the fight not to happen. "I think that's the fight the world wants to see," Roach said. "But if Floyd wants a 65-35 split (of the purse) he's not going to get it."




 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend