BoxRec: Pacquiao vs Floyd on May 2

MANILA, Philippines - The super fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. has got everything on it – except the contract signed by both fighters.

The betting lines opened more than a month ago, putting the unbeaten Mayweather a 3-1 favorite over the surging Pacquiao.

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, has dedicated an entire page for the fight, the most talked about boxing contest that has yet to happen.

Yesterday, www.boxrec.com, the most extensive boxing website carrying the updated records of professional boxers, both active and retired, fanned the fire.

BoxRec posted yesterday morning (Manila time) the schedule of Mayweather vs Pacquiao on May 2, 2015. It’s got the venue, too, and it’s the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Boxing observers jumped on it and slowly, word spread.

The post was deleted a couple of hours later.

The question being asked now is: What made BoxRec post the fight schedule when no announcement had been made yet?

Or is BoxRec privy to the “ongoing” negotiations between Pacquiao and Mayweather representatives?

Has the fight been sealed?

BoxRec, which draws no less than 50,000 visitors and around a million page views each day since 2008, holds the record of 17,000 active and 345,000 non-active boxers in its database.

It has a massive reputation to hold.

“Anyone in boxing who says he doesn’t use BoxRec is either a complete imbecile or lying,” boxing promoter Lou DiBella once said.

But it may not be the first time BoxRec did it because someone (@boxingadvocate) tweeted that BoxRec once posted a Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight for March 13, 2010.

“Remember when BoxRec listed Mayweather-Pacquiao...for March 13, 2010?” was the tweet.

Around that time, the fight came close to happening.

But it didn’t.

Pacquiao fought Joshua Clottey on March 13, 2010 in Texas.