Mayweather near deal with mystery opponent

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao are fighting on March 13 after all – just not against each other.

Richard Schaefer, Mayweather’s promoter, reiterated shortly after the Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey fight was formally announced on Sunday that his client will fight on that date at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Schaefer said he’s close to a deal with a prospective opponent but said he can’t reveal who it is.

Among those rumored to be possible opponents are Paulie Malignaggi, Kermit Cintron, Nate Campbell and Timothy Bradley.

Another issue would be television. HBO Pay Per View can handle one of the fights or choose neither. Another company would have to showcase the other fight if HBO does go either direction.

And the fact that the Nos. 1 and 2 fighters will go head to head both live and on TV is very unusual. It almost guarantees that that both pay-per-view buy rates will suffer.

“Obviously that’s not ideal,” Schaefer said. “I hate to do that. I’d be a fool to say it’s a good thing. Sometimes you have to play the cards you’re dealt with, though.”

Mayweather and Pacquiao were supposed to fight on March 13 but the fight fell apart because the fighters couldn’t agree on a cut-off date for blood testing.

Pacquiao is scheduled to fight Clottey at the new Cowboys Stadium in Dallas.