Floyd Mayweather Wants More money for Manny Pacquiao Fight
The prospective fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao has drawn up questions of ducking, drug testing and ego. However the latest stumbling block appears to be money. It's no surprise to hear that Mayweather wants more cash to fight Pacman. Yet you have to wonder if this is just another excuse from Mayweather's camp to avoid the fast-fisted Filipino.
While much of the attention about negotiations for a “mega fight” between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao have centered around Mayweather Jr.’s insistence on Olympic style drug testing and the implication that Pacquiao has been using banned substances to gain muscle and weight, many fight insiders believe that a primary reason that the bout has yet to be signed is a common one: money. As is the case when two top fighters are negotiating a deal, both sides feel as though they deserve equal treatment and an equal share of the purse and a few percentage points in either direction can make or break a fight.
The main financial issue clouding a potential Mayweather Jr. vs. Pacquiao fight appears to be how they would split the purse. The Philippine Star is reporting that Mayweather Jr. is demanding a higher percentage of the purse than Pacquiao, reasoning that he is the biggest draw in the fight - especially in the United States - and that he should receive the greater percentage of the revenue.
While the issue of a few percentage points might seem extremely trivial considering the huge amounts of money that everyone involved with a Mayweather Jr. vs. Pacquiao fight would stand to make if it happens, the resolution of the purse split is critical. For one thing, when you are talking the two fighters taking home a split of a purse expected to exceed $50 million, the amount of money at stake become clear. Even the difference of one percentage point means $500,000 go to or away from one fighter or the other.
Mayweather Jr. reportedly is using the PPV numbers from his and Pacquiao’s most recent fights as proof that he deserves a bigger share of the purse. At first glance, some of the numbers appear to back him up. Mayweather Jr.’s victory over Shane Mosley on May 1 drew 1.4 million PPV buys. That was double the 700,000 PPV buys for Pacquiao’s win over Joshua Clottey at Cowboys Stadium earlier this year.
However, those numbers can be very deceiving. It’s important to remember that the quality of opponents also played a major factor in those PPV buy rates. Mayweather Jr. was fighting one of the biggest names in the sport in a fight that had been anticipated for several years. Meanwhile, Pacquiao was facing a relatively unknown fighter outside of boxing circles who would not bring in many PPV buys on his own. In addition, few people expected Clottey to give Pacquiao a competitive fight while there was a belief that Mosley had a chance to spring an upset against Mayweather Jr.
The timing of the news that Mayweather Jr. apparently wants more of the purse is very intriguing. It comes on the heels of the news that Pacquiao was willing to compromise on blood testing for doping and other drugs before the fight. While Pacquiao still insists that blood testing up until the day of the fight is out of the question, he recently said that he would compromise from his original position of wanting to halt blood testing 30 days before a bout and allow testing to continue until two weeks before a fight. Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum said on Wednesday that he has heard back from Mayweather Jr.’s camp following this news.
If you believe Mayweather Jr.’s father that his son does not really want to fight Pacquiao, then it’s easy to imagine that Mayweather Jr. is using the purse split as an excuse to not sign a deal for the fight - particularly after Pacquiao has made concessions about blood testing. Pacquiao’s lawyer told the Philippine Star that his client would “never” accept a deal that is less than a 50-50 split. However, it’s far more likely that this is another in a continuing series of moves made by Mayweather Jr. to attempt to frustrate and infuriate Pacquiao and possibly hurt his focus leading into the fight. While there may be some time before a final deal for a bout in the ring is reached, it appears that the mind games have already started.
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