By Charlie Knoxville
I wanted to hold off from writing anymore articles on the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao situation until the fight was signed sealed and delivered. I am like many other fans beginning to feel pessimistic on this mega bout happening. I do, however, check from time to time the updates online pertaining to the Pacquiao-Mayweather negotiations, and all I see are the same old headlines and no real advancements in negotiations.
From all the recent headlines it seems the main stumbling block is no longer the random blood testing cut off date but now the financial purse split afforded to each fighter. I find a 60/40 split in Mayweather’s favor unreasonable. Pacquiao has been a star in boxing since he defeated Marco Antonio Barrera in 2003 and his latest Pay-per-view bout with Joshua Clottey did awesome numbers; 700-thousand buys that is not bad for an under promoted, no HBO 24/7, no name opponent fight. What was even more impressive was how many tickets Manny Pacquiao sold at the enormous Cowboys stadium in Texas! Pacman sold a good 51,000 tickets at the 100-thousand seat venue and they all came there to see one man, Manny “The Pacman” Pacquiao. I don’t believe Floyd Mayweather Jr. could sell that many tickets against a no name fighter with no HBO 24/7 helping to hype the fight.
Manny Pacquiao deserves an equal split, Mayweather might have the recent Pay-per-view numbers on his side but he doesn’t put butts in the seats the way Manny Pacquiao can. Actually, when Mayweather fought Carlos Baldomir people who paid big money to watch the fight started walking out by the 10th round demanding refunds. People pay to watch Floyd Mayweather lose while people pay to watch Manny Pacquiao fight, that is the big difference here.
If the fighters can’t come to terms and agree on a 50/50 split then a simple solution would be that the winner of the fight gets 60 and the loser gets the 40 percent. It is the same contract stipulation that Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. agreed upon for their late rematch this year, they signed a deal that stated the winner gets 60 and the loser gets 40 and Bernard Hopkins beat Jones Jr. getting the 60 percent.
The only reason I think Floyd Mayweather Jr. doesn’t want to agree on a 50/50 purse split is because he knows this could be his last fight where he could earn big money, people pay to watch Floyd lose and if Manny Pacquiao beats him then his next fight on Pay-per-view would do less than stellar numbers unless it’s a rematch with Pacquiao. This is also the reason I believe he won’t agree on a 60/40 winner gets 60 percent deal because in order for him to get the lions share he would have to fight out of his comfort zone and go for the knock out against Manny to assure he get’s the bigger cut, and we all know how Manny Pacquiao fights, you can throw the kitchen sink at him and he won’t stop coming at you, hence the moniker PACMAN he gobbles up everything in his path.
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I am an avid fan of boxing and video games. My first fight of memory was watching Prince Naseem Hamed destroy Kevin Kelly. I enjoy all aspects of the sport. My favorite current boxer is Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. My favorite boxing match is Diego Corrales vs. Jose Luis Castillo 1. I love watching boxing on Pay-Per-View more than being there live because you can really enjoy and watch the action from the best view.