Manny Pacquiao recently signed a two-year extension with Top Rank Promotions, virtually killing the possibility of facing Floyd Mayweather in a super fight next year.
Mayweather made it no secret that he will not face Pacquiao until the Filipino Boxing icon is still with Top Rank, but UAE fight promoter, Prince Amir Shafipour, confidently said that he can make the fight happen.
In an interview with the Gulf News, Shafipour, who successfully staged the inaugural Global Fighting Championship in UAE, said that he can convince Pacquiao and Mayweather to face each other in Dubai.
"I will honestly and truthfully tell you that if anyone can convince them to fight, and to fight in Dubai, I can," Shafipour said. "I have a lot of worldwide connections, with managers, promoters, fighters, people in the business, who speak the same language that Mayweather and Pacquiao are speaking. You have to be on the same page as them and only then will you get their attention."
Shafipour added that he knows a promoter, who has a close relationship with both fighters. He did not reveal the identity of the boxing promoter, but he said that the person is capable of convincing both fighters to set aside their ego.
"I am currently working with a major boxing promoter in the USA, who is connected to both the Pacquiao and Mayweather camps, and who has the capacity to help me pull this off. It's not a boast, it's a commitment," Shafipour said.
The UAE-based promoter added that Pacquiao and Mayweather will eventually succumb to the pressure from fight fans, who are all itching to see two of the best fighters of this generation square off on top of the ring.
"Both of them know that the whole world wants to see them fight," Shafipour said. "And which fighter does not want to give what the world wants? I know many people have failed to bring them to the ring, for many reasons, but I believe that we have the formula to make it happen."
