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A DEAL IS on the table for a fight between Floyd Mayweather Junior and Manny Pacquiao on May 2 in Las Vegas, Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum told Yahoo Sports yesterday.
Arum says Pacquiao has agreed to the deal, as have Mayweather’s “representatives.” The way Arum frames it, all that’s left is for Mayweather himself to agree to the deal.
Iole reports that Pacquiao has agreed to a 60-40 revenue split in which Mayweather would make an estimated $120 (€102) million and Pacquiao $80 (€68) million.
The two sides have been unable to make the fight happen for the better part of a decade, with multiple attempts to come to terms falling through over disagreements on drug-testing procedures and revenue splits.
When asked whether he was trying to force Mayweather’s hand by announcing that Pacquiao had agreed to the fight, Arum told Iole:
“I’m not trying to force anybody’s hand, I’m just saying, ‘Hey, we’ve agreed to everything, period.’ The people we have talked to on Mayweather’s side have agreed to everything. Now we need Mayweather to step up and say, ‘Yeah, I’m on board. I agree.’”
After Arum showed that his camp would be agreeable to the lesser split, Sam Watson – who is apparently close to Mayweather advisor Al Haymen – said that The Money Team were ‘putting it together’.
“They’re going to do a Showtime-HBO [joint pay-per-view] like they did last time with Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson.
“They’re working on the monies now and everything they’ve got to work on to make it happen. I can’t wait. It’s going to be huge.”
If the fight generates $200 million, it would be the most lucrative in history.
Three or four years ago, this was the fight the whole world wanted to see. Now though, with Mayweather 37 and Pacquiao 36, the gloss seems to have faded.
