Arum unsure if Mayweather-Pacquiao fight can be made

By Boxing News - 12/12/2014 - Comments

pac76By Allan Fox: Bob Arum, the promoter for WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, isn’t quite sure if a fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr can be made.

Arum says that Pacquiao would take the fight if it were offered to him, but the silence that he’s been getting from Mayweather’s side doesn’t instill him with confidence that the fight can be made.

Mayweather has already said in the past that he wouldn’t fight Pacquiao until he was clear of Arum, so it’s not surprising that there hasn’t been a fight put together between them. Pacquiao recently signed a 2-year extension with Top Rank that will keep him under contract until the end of 2016.

That was a move that may have finished any possibility for a fight between him and Mayweather, although Pacquiao doesn’t believe that Mayweather was serious when he said that he wouldn’t fight him until he was free and clear of Arum.

“It’s hard for me to be so pessimistic because there’s such optimism from our side, on the Pacquiao side,” Arum said via the desertsun.com. “But as the silence becomes defining from the Mayweather side, I become less optimistic. I don’t know what it’ll take to get Mayweather in the ring with Pacquiao. I think he will be a threat to Mayweather. It’s a 50-50 fight and I think it should happen. We have to wait and see if they can put it together. I think it makes sense.”

The fight potentially makes sense for Mayweather if he can get the right purse split. It doesn’t make sense if he winds up giving Pacqiuiao a 50-50 purse split or anything close to that.

Mayweather makes too much money facing other opposition where he can get a larger purse split and make a lot of money. If he’s forced to give Pacquiao a large split of the money then the fight itself makes very little sense for Mayweather other than for perhaps his legacy. But with Pacquiao having been beaten by Juan Manuel Marquez and nearing 36, it’s not a fight that will do a great deal for Mayweather’s legacy at this point.

If Mayweather had fought Pacquiao in 2009 when Pacquiao was in the prime of his career, it would have been a much bigger deal for Mayweather’s legacy. But beating him now will only prove that Mayweather was able to beat a fighter on the downside of his career. It’s now more of a fight that is about money rather than legacy, and even the money wouldn’t be worth it unless Mayweather gets the right split.

He’s going to need to get at least a 70-30 purse split for the fight to be worth taking. 60-40 or 55-45 isn’t going to be enough of a split for Mayweather to make the kind of money he made in his fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Mayweather might be better off facing Canelo again in a rematch if he can get a good purse split like he did last time they fought in 2013.

If Arum and Pacquiao really want the Mayweather fight badly enough then they may be willing to accept a 70-30 purse split. They could then look to get a better deal in a rematch if Pacquiao can beat Mayweather.



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