Floyd Mayweather gets his timing right

Floyd Mayweather has declared “the time is now” as the gaze of the sporting world turns to Las Vegas for a seismic showdown with Manny Pacquiao that will end five years of disillusion.

The welterweight rivals finally collide at the MGM Grand in the early hours of Sunday morning, repairing boxing’s credibility after a succession of false dawns dating back to 2010.

Lawsuits, hostility between rival promoters and broadcasters and Mayweather’s blood testing demands prevented the two finest fighters of their generation from clashing until the breakthrough in negotiations came in February.