Mayweather And Pacquiao Meet For The First Time

It seems incredible that for all their ducking and dodging and posturing and close calls, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao had never met face-to-face before last night. But with both sitting courtside at the Miami Heat game—directly opposite each other, as it worked out—the two wandered over at halftime for a brief and friendly-looking chat.

It looked like Mayweather did most of the talking:

"He gave his number to me and said we will communicate with each other," said Pacquiao, according to the Associated Press.

That the two were at the same game was purely a coincidence, claimed Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz, the third man in on the chat. "They had a private, friendly discussion, and that's all I really want to say."

Consider it all pre-hype. The pair appear on course for their long-awaited fight, and while we've certainly heard that before, the major hurdles appear to be cleared up: the revenue split, the drug testing, even the date and place—May 2, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. There's no formal contract yet, according to reports, and HBO and Showtime would have to sort out their own agreement for a joint PPV. But it feels like this is really going to happen, with an announcement coming soon, probably within weeks. We've wanted this fight for years; the real question is whether we'll be glad when we finally get it.