By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao took to twitter earlier on Tuesday to once again ask Floyd Mayweather Jr for a fight next year.
It’s kind of an unneeded move for Pacquiao, because Mayweather clearly said in an interview last Friday on Showtime that he wants the fight with the soon to be 36-year-old Pacquiao on May 2nd. Mayweather Jr just wants Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum not to duck the fight by coming up with some excuse not to make it happen.
“Floyd Mayweather, don’t be a boxing humbug. Let’s give the fans the fight they want. They have waited long enough,” Pacquiao said on his twitter today.
To be sure, the fans have been waiting for a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao for a long time, but Pacquiao needs to look in the mirror and own the fact that he blew it in 2010 when he had a chance to fight Mayweather and he failed to agree to the blood testing that he wanted. That missed opportunity for Pacquiao, and you can’t put that on Mayweather for the fight not happening.
Mayweather definitely wants the Pacquiao fight next, and he’ll take the fight as long as he’s able to negotiate the terms. If Pacquiao prices himself out of the fight by asking for too much money then obviously it won’t take place.
The whole problem that Pacquiao has is he’s coming into the negotiations with Mayweather in a bad position. Pacquiao has lost two out of his last five fights, and he’s not faced anyone other than Tim Bradley with his recent wins. Pacquiao’s victories over Brandon Rios and Chris Algieri were very, very soft opponents without any real popularity. Pacquiao’s pay-per-view numbers have suffered recently with declining numbers. With all that baggage over his head, Pacquiao can’t really ask for a good money split with Mayweather and have any real chance of getting it.
The fight negotiations, I believe, will hinge on the money split rather than on other things such as drug testing and ring size. Those issues are of less importance here. If Pacquiao doesn’t ask for too much money, then I believe Mayweather will give him the fight. But if Pacquiao and Arum get too greedy and ask for a cut of say 60-40, then I see Mayweather walking away from the negotiations. If Mayweather is feeling charitable, I think he might be willing to give Pacquiao a 65-35 money split, but that’s probably the best that Pacquiao and Arum can hope for. The thing is Pacquiao will probably take nothing less than a 60-40 deal, and that’s where he’ll miss out on the fight.
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