On Tuesday, promoter Bob Arum will host a press conference at Cowboys Stadium to officially announce Manny Pacquiao's March 13th welterweight title defense against Joshua Clottey. Floyd Mayweather Jr. was also still planning to fight on that date, but he lacked a suitable dance partner. That was until the recent news that Andre Berto withdrew from his January 30th title unification with Shane Mosley. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer quickly began working on a potential megafight between Mosley and Mayweather, but with just eight weeks to go before March 13th, it's highly unlikely that they will face each other on the same date that Paquiao takes on Clottey. In fact, word has it that HBO has already agreed to present the Pacquiao-Clottey bout on HBO Pay-Per-View, leaving Mayweather with no choice but to change dates.
"I'm going to sit down with our marketing people, and our sponsors as well, and determine what the right time frame would be to properly promote and activate that fight [Mayweather vs. Mosley]," Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer would tell Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports. "On the surface, with March 13 just around the corner, I don't think that would be the right thing to do. If you're going with a super mega fight like that to go against Pacquiao-Clottey. I think that would be totally wrong and I would not want to do that."
Last week, approval to license Mayweather's proposed March 13th fight at the MGM Grand was already tabled and put on hold by the Nevada State Athletic Commission due to the lack of an opponent. With Mayweather now in talks to face Mosley, the short timeframe to properly promote a fight of that magnitude essentially means Mayweather will have no choice but to push back his ring return, allowing HBO the freedom to move forward with their involvement in Pacquiao-Clottey. Unfortunately for Mosley, who just completed a full training camp for nothing, it also means that it will be well over a year sine he last fought the next time he steps into the ring. The soonest date that a bout with Mayweather could take place is in May, as HBO also plans on staging a long overdue rematch between Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. in April.