Deal for Fight with Pacquiao Awaits Mayweather's Approval
After months of negotiations and public bickering, the biggest fight in recent boxing history is apparently close to becoming a done deal. Sports Illustrated is reporting that a deal has been worked out between the two camps for a mega fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather on November 13. The fight would likely set records for attendance and gate money.
Of course, as with anything relating to this fight, there are potential hurdles. Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum told the publication that a deal had been reached in principle but that the ultimate decision rested with Mayweather. Arum told BoxingScene.com that Mayweather has been given until mid-July to accept the deal. If Mayweather doesn't agree to the deal or there is a delay in signing the contract, Arum said that Pacquiao would move on to Plan B, which would be fighting another opponent on that date.
According to Arum, the majority of the issues which were holding back a fight have been worked out between the two camps. The first is the issue of drug testing, which is what derailed a potential fight earlier this year. Mayweather had called for Olympic style drug testing including blood testing for performance enhancing drugs and blood doping up to the day of the fight. Pacquiao balked at those demands, claiming to have a fear of needles and not wanting to go through the stress of having blood drawn so close to the fight. There were insinuations from Mayweather's team that the testing was necessary because Pacquiao's rise through the various weight classes to welterweight might have been "enhanced." Pacquiao's team chaffed at the suggestions and contemplated suing Mayweather for defamation of character.
While drug testing was the most divisive issue in the negotiations late last year for a potential fight this spring, recent revelations have changed things. Specifically, details about the level of testing that was done on Mayweather and Shane Mosley ahead of their fight in May undercut Mayweather's moral high ground on the matter. While Mayweather and Mosley both claimed that they would be fighting using the same Olympic style drug testing procedures that Mayweather called for in negotiations for the fight against Pacquiao, media reports showed that this didn't happen. Records indicated that the last blood testing was done weeks before the fight.
These revelations seemed to take the wind out of the sails of Mayweather's calls for strict drug testing. Reports have suggested that Mayweather and Pacquiao have agreed to stop drug testing two weeks before a proposed fight - a time table that Pacquiao had originally suggested as a compromise during initial negotiations last year.
The drug testing issue was the most controversial issue holding up a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao but it wasn't the only one. Last month, word came out that Mayweather believed that he deserved a larger cut of the fight purse than Pacquiao. Mayweather's claim was based on the PPV numbers for the most recent fights of each boxer. Mayweather was allegedly claiming that since more people paid to watch him beat Mosley than did to watch Pacquiao beat Joshua Clottey, he was clearly a bigger draw and deserved more money.
However, Pacquiao's camp countered that the main reason that Mayweather's fight drew more PPV buys was because he was fighting one of the most well-known and popular boxers in the sport while Pacquiao was fighting a relatively unknown opponent in Clottey. This issue appears to have been resolved in Pacquiao's favour as well, as the deal in place calls for a 50-50 split of the purse. After months of acrimonious debate, it looks like the ball is in Mayweather's court in order to set up one of the biggest fights in boxing history.
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