Top Rank Promotions CEO Bob Arum is still pushing for the super fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., but the famed promoter admitted that the negotiation for the bout is not progressing.

Arum, whose company holds a promotional contract with Pacquiao, said that they are still open to facing Mayweather, but he said that the reigning pound-for-pound king's camp remains mum about their plan for next year.

"It's hard for me to be so pessimistic because there's such optimism from our side, on the Pacquiao side," Arum said via The Desert Sun. "But as the silence becomes defining from the Mayweather side, I become less and less optimistic. I don't know what it'll take to get Mayweather in the ring with Pacquiao."

When asked if there is still even a slim chance to see the two boxing superstar collide inside the boxing ring, Arum told reporters to ask the question to Mayweather.

"That is a question to ask Mayweather. If you came to me and said, 'Hey Mayweather is ready to fight him,' OK, then I'd say the fight is on," Arum said. "I mean, there's never been a question whether Pacquiao wants to fight him."

Arum recently took a swipe at Mayweather, saying that the unbeaten welterweight and junior middleweight champion is still dodging Pacquiao because he is aware that Filipino boxing icon is capable of handing him the first defeat of his boxing career.

"The real problem is that Mayweather is so damn smart when it comes to boxing and he realizes that of all the fighters fought and all the fighters out there that Manny poses the biggest threat," Arum told World Boxing News. "Why? Because Manny is fast, Manny can punch and Manny is left handed. Floyd never wants to fight a left-handed fighter because his style is designed to fight orthodox fighters."

Fans have been calling for the fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao over the past several years to settle the long debate about who the better fighter of this generation is, but numerous negotiations for the fight went down. Most boxing analysts are convinced that the fight will be the highest-grossing bout in boxing history if it will be finalized.

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