Mayweather: Pacquiao said he’d take a pay cut to fight me a month ago, but now he changes his mind when I show interest in fighting him

By Chris Williams: Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KO’s) doubts that Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s) was ever serious about fighting him. Mayweather recently told Pacquiao he can’t get a 50-50 deal after Pacquiao asked to get an even split with him. However, last month Pacquiao told writer Nick Giongco from the Manila Bulletin that he wanted to make the Mayweather fight and would take a smaller cut to get the fight.

Mayweather was going to be unavailable to fight Pacquiao for a considerable amount of time due to a 90-day jail term which was supposed to start on January 6th. But Pacquiao changed his tune when Mayweather suddenly started showing interest in a fight with him, and went from letting Mayweather get the larger slice of the pie to asking for an even 50-50 purse split.

Speaking on his twitter page today, Mayweather said “A month ago, Pacquiao said he would take a pay cut to fight me. Now that I called him out, he wants a bigger piece?”

It looks like Pacquiao changed his mind about giving Pacquiao a bigger cut. I just wonder why he offered to let him have the bigger share in the first place. Was it because he didn’t think Mayweather was going to be available and it would make for a good sound bite by showing how badly he wanted the fight. Or did Pacquiao just change his mind about wanting to give Mayweather a bigger share.

Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, said yesterday that the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight won’t happen unless it’s a 50-50 deal. But it’s going to take more than a 50-50 deal for Mayweather to get the fight. He’ll also have to move away from the May 5th date that he plans on fighting on. Arum wants him to fight at the end of the month.

This would be a good chance for Mayweather to call Arum’s bluff by agreeing to both the 50-50 deal and the end of May date that Arum wants. My guess is another obstacle or two will immediately be put in front of Mayweather to bar him from getting the Pacquiao fight. He’s just too good and they’re not going to give Pacquiao and let him wreck the gravy train.