By Jason Kim: Bob Arum is talking about wanting to put together the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao bout in May 2011, with the help of promoter Don King. However, can the fight be made if Pacquiao is not agreeable to taking the full random blood tests that Mayweather wants? If Pacquiao is still going to stick to not having his blood tested within 14 days of the fight, I doubt that Mayweather is going to go along with that. I don’t think King, as great a promoter that he is, will be able to change Mayweather’s mind about the random blood testing that he clearly wants.
Will Pacquiao change his mind about not wanting to take the full tests and finally agree to them? If not, then Arum needs to go ahead and put Pacquiao back in with Miguel Cotto again rather than waste time trying to negotiate with Mayweather. Also there’s the question of the split of the money. Pacquiao wants a 50-50 deal, and Mayweather wants more than that, probably in the range of 60-40. While I doubt that Pacquiao will ever agree to that, I think Mayweather would possibly accept something along the lines of 55-45.
I think that would be more than a fair deal for Pacquiao, because Mayweather has been getting bigger pay per view numbers recently, and he is undefeated and considered to be the best fighter in boxing by many fight fans of the sport. It’s all up to Arum and Pacquiao. If they come into the negotiations with Mayweather thinking of getting a 50-50 deal and random blood testing that stops at two weeks before the fight, then it’s such a waste. I really don’t think Mayweather will change his mind about wanting the full blood tests and I seriously doubt that he’d take a 50-50 deal with a fighter that he’s getting better PPV numbers.
Next time around, Arum needs to back off with arranging the venue ahead of time. All that planning before Mayweather had even agreed to anything just made it seem as if Arum was calling the shots. First he needs to try and put together the fight, and then he can start thinking about Cowboy Stadium or whatever. I don’t think Mayweather wants to fight any stadium, so Arum needs to think about Las Vegas rather than stadiums. The real money for this fight will be from PPV, not from the fans that show up to watch it live. I think the fight can be made, but only if Pacquiao and Arum give Mayweather exactly what he wants. If they don’t, then they’ll have to be satisfied matching Pacquiao up with Cotto over and over again. At some point, I think you’re going to start getting diminishing returns on that fight.
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