By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is saying that there’s been some movement in the negotiations between his money fighter Pacquiao and boxing’s No.1 pay-per-view star Floyd Mayweather Jr for a mega-clash in 2015. Arum isn’t bragging about there being a great deal of movement, but he is saying that there’s movement at least.
It’s obviously not going to be easy for the fight to get made because there’s a significant tilt in Mayweather’s favor in the negotiations due to his unbeaten record, his better opposition he’s fought and his superior pay-per-view numbers.
If Arum is negotiating from a time warp of 2009 when Mayweather was coming off of a 2-year layoff and Pacquiao was at the top of his game, then he’ll likely blow the negotiations by asking for more money than Pacquiao is worth at this stage. That’s why Arum needs to approach the negotiations from a realistic point where he understands where his fighter Pacquiao is compared to Mayweather.
It’s tough for some promoters to realize when their fighter is no longer the A-side due to age and ring wear. One must hope this isn’t the case with the 83-year-old Arum.
“The talks are slow but at least there is movement,” Arum said to the Manilastandardtoday.com. “It’s always about money.”
If Arum asks for too much green stuff for Pacquiao then he’ll wind up pricing him out of the fight with Mayweather. While a 65-35 purse split in favor of Mayweather might have been too wide of a split during their first negotiations in 2009, it’s not too wide now. A 65-35 purse split would actually be more than fair for Pacquiao right now.
Asking for 60-40 is probably too much of a swing in Pacquiao’s favor. Anything from 65-35 to 75-25 for Mayweather would be reasonable numbers for the mega-fight. It’s just going to be up to Arum how much he wants to make the fight. If it becomes a pride thing or if his head still stuck in the past thinking this is 2009 instead of 2015, then the fight deal won’t get done. Arum must see things in a realistic manner if he wants to make the fight.
The fact that the talks are going slow rather than quickly could be a hint that Arum and his adviser Michael Koncz aren’t speaking Mayweather’s language when it comes to the money numbers.
Believe me, if Mayweather hears the magic number that he’s looking for from Arum then he’ll jump at the chance at signing the fight right away. But if Arum has his head wrapped around getting a huge purse split for Pacquiao that he arguably no longer deserves, then the fight negotiations will likely die off.
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