7/14/2023 0 Comments Thomas hearns emanuel steward![]() Mayweather and Pacquiao are now likely to put off a potential welterweight mega-fight whilst the two pursue different goals. Times have changed and it really frustrates me because I remember how easy it was for me to make the fight with Ray,” added Steward. “The money is there, the two guys would make a minimum of $50m apiece, and it still can’t be made because of egos. “One of the biggest fights in history was made on a quick handshake in about 30 minutes. I shook hands and flew back to Detroit on the exact same plane that I came on – that’s how quick the deal was made. They stepped out for a minute, came back and said ‘pal, you’ve got a deal’. “They were all shocked, they thought I was going to ask for more for Tommy. He said ‘have you lost your mind? How much do you think Ray should get?’ And I said $8m. Mike Trainer said ‘what are you looking for for Tommy?’ I said, ‘I want $5m for Tommy’. “So I jumped on a plane and we met at an airport coffee shop. “I could see something building up, so finally I called up Mike Trainer and said ‘Mike, it looks like the public wants to see Ray and Tommy fight and he said ‘why don’t we meet today?’ They could have played politics but they were true warriors.” “What made that era great was that they fought each other. There’s not one dream heavyweight fight – you’ve got Wladimir Klitschko and Vitali Klitschko and nobody else. “Unless some drastic changes come about, I don’t like the way things are looking for boxing. ![]() We need to return to an era when the best fight the best and it wasn’t all about money and egos,” Steward explained in the BBC interview. It’s more of a business now and its hurting boxing. The legendary trainer, who still trains top heavyweights Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, amongst others today, spoke to BBC Sport on the back of Sugar Ray Leonard’s comments that a bout between the two pound for pounds stars has to made to for the good of boxing. ![]()
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