BY JUN MEDINA SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Renowned trainer Freddie Roach did not expect that he would start training camp for Manny Pacquiao six weeks after the Filipino ring icon won a record seventh world title in seven different weight classes. “We’re happy it could be happening, but I’m surprised it’s happened so quickly,” Roach told the Los Angeles Times Friday from Britain.

The mega fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. drew closer to reality after “PacMan” agreed to a March 13 showdown presented by his promoter Bob Arum.

The breakthrough came after Pacquiao, who is running for congressman in the May 10 elections, chose the March schedule over May 1 in a breakfast meeting with Arum Friday in Manila.

Arum—who took a two-day, unscheduled flight from his Top Rank headquarters in Las Vegas to Manila Tuesday night—declined to give details of the deal, but said there could be formal announcements about the fight next week.

Roach said the fight pitting the two top boxers in their prime could be the biggest and richest in the history of boxing.

Early estimates suggest that both Pacquiao and Mayweather, who were reported to have agreed to a 50-50 purse split, could earn record paychecks of at least $40 million each.

Pacquiao told GMA 7 television network in Manila that “March 13 is okay.”

Pacquiao said the only difference Mayweather has with his previous major opponents is that he “makes a lot of thrash talk that should not be imitated by the youth.”

Roach said he would like to start training right after New Year’s Day to enable Pacquiao to get the usual 10 weeks in training camp for such a big fight.

“I guess we will have a month in the Philippines followed by and have the rest in Wild Card Gym and Las Vegas,” Roach said.

Roach said after Pacquiao’s 12th round technical knockout win over Miguel Cotto that he wanted Pacquiao’s next fight in May or June to allow his body enough time to heal.

However, Pacquiao’s decision to run for congressman in the lone district of Sarangani, his wife Jinkee’s home province, prompted the choice for an earlier fight.

Roach said having a fight in March has certain advantages since there is not much down time for his prized boxer who then “stays sharp.”

He also thinks minimizing Pacquiao’s political distractions would benefit the reigning best boxer in the world pound-for-pound.

Arum is expected to meet Monday with Richard Schaefer, chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions, who is representing Mayweather.

Barring any last minute hitch, Top Rank and Golden Boy will release a joint statement next week, Arum said.

Arum also said that he, Schaefer and HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg will visit the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas next week. The 100,000 capacity arena, which was recently completed at the cost of $1.5 billion is one of major venues vying to host Pacquiao-Mayweather.

The other bidders include the 70,000-seat Superdome in Louisiana and a group of Las Vegas casino owners who offered to build a 30,000-seat arena for the event.

A Mayweather-Pacquiao bout is expected to be the richest fight in boxing history with pay-per-view sales projected to exceed 3 million buys.

If these predictions hold, Pacquiao and Mayweather could gross $40 million or more each, the highest in the history of boxing.

The current pay-per-view record is 2.4 million pay-per-view buys set by the Mayweather-Oscar De La Hoya super fight in May 2007. read more