By Allan Fox: The negotiations between WBA/WBC 147 pound champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (47-0, 26 KOs) and WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs) for a fight on May 2nd aren’t going too well, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com.
Rafael is saying that Pacquiao’s side is doing all the work in trying to make the fight happen and they’re not having much luck. If the fight doesn’t get made for 2015, it would be a huge pity for the fans because this is clearly the biggest fight in the sport. There’s really nothing out there that can compare to a fight this big.
“As far as I know it’s been one-way traffic on Manny’s side trying to make it. As I understand it, Les Moonves is in contact with the Mayweather camp and not getting anywhere,” Dan Rafael said during Friday’s chat session on ESPN.com.
It’s unclear what Mayweather would want for him to make the fight happen with the 36-year-old Pacquiao. If Moonves from CBS Sports isn’t getting anywhere with Mayweather then it’s possible that Mayweather’s side is asking for something that Pacquiao’s management isn’t willing to give him.
The only thing that you can think of that is a problem for Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is perhaps Mayweather asking for too much money. There’s a lot of questions whether Pacquiao deserves to receive the same kind of money that Mayweather would be getting.
A 60-40 purse split is likely as low as Arum would agree to go in a fight against Mayweather, but even that is really pushing it. In looking at the pay-per-view numbers that Pacquiao’s recent fights have brought in and his ring record in his last five fights, you can see how Mayweather would be in the right to ask for a bigger purse split than 60-40.
A purse split of 65-35 or possibly 70-30 in favor of Mayweather would be fair in the eyes of some boxing fans, because Mayweather is unbeaten and he’s clearly the A-side in the negotiations.
Some fans feel that Mayweather should automatically agree to give to give Pacquiao a healthy purse split because Mayweather wouldn’t make this kind of money facing anyone else in boxing. However, it doesn’t make good business sense for Mayweather to agree to give Pacquiao similar money as him given that he’s lost two out of his last five fights, and his pay-per-view numbers are said to be deteriorating.
The pay-per-view attrition is obviously hitting other top fighters as well, and not just Pacquiao. But Mayweather is still bringing in better PPV numbers than Pacquiao, and it doesn’t make much sense for him to give Pacquiao a big cut due to his recent PPV numbers, which show that he’s not bringing in the huge numbers he used to.
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