By Dave Lahr: In a poll on Forbes.com, Floyd Mayweather Jr. is ranked at number #31 on the Sport & Celebrity list for making $65 million combined for his fights against Juan Manuel Marquez and Shane Mosley. Pacquiao, in contrast, came in at only number #55 on the list, with his $42 million that he made in his fights against Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey. Mayweather’s fight against Shane Mosley brought in 1.4 million pay per view buys. Pacquiao’s bout against Clottey came in with a respectable 700,000 buys.
Good, but not as good as Mayweather’s numbers. Is it any wonder then why Mayweather Jr. is said to want a bigger financial split with Pacquiao. If you’re making the bigger money, and bringing in the bigger pay per view numbers, it stands to reason that Mayweather would want the bigger cut of the revenue. For Mayweather to make the kind of money that he’s been making since coming back from his 2-year retirement from boxing, he would need to get at least at 55-45 or 60-40 split of the money.
That’s no bad on Mayweather. He’s just looking out for his own interest. If you’re going to take a fight that’s supposed to be the biggest fight in the history of boxing, why would you be satisfied with making less than what you would make in your less popular fights? Mayweather is able to make that kind of money against other opposition because he takes a much bigger cut compared to them and he also promotes himself, and doesn’t need to give a huge slice of his money to his promoter, unlike other fighters.
So for Mayweather to fight Pacquiao, he really needs to have a bigger cut for it to be worth his while. Otherwise, what’s the point in Mayweather taking on Pacquiao when he’s not going to make better money than he’s made in the past? I can’t blame Mayweather one bit. He’s just being a businessman and being smart. I respect the man and I back him all the way for asking for more money. He deserves it.
Mayweather is the unbeaten fighter, Mayweather is the better showman, Mayweather is the better talker and Mayweather is the one with the better PPV numbers. That’s what it’s all about. Boxing is entertainment and Mayweather is selling the tickets and producing the PPV buys, so he should naturally get the bigger money. I’m sure that’s what the main sticking point is for their negotiations. Its money and Mayweather deserves every penny he can get for his past accomplishments.
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