In an effort to prolong this ridiculous charade, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. have apparently decided to exchange phony, unrealistic, waste-of-time purse split offers. What does that mean for the rest of us? It means that before these two eventually pick who they’ll fight next (it won’t be each other), they might also sour their relationship so much so that it’ll ensure they won’t fight at all.
As we noted last week, Pacquiao vs. Mayweather (the May version) effectively died when both fighters resorted to acting like little babies regarding what their purse split would be if they agreed to a fight. Not when, mind you, but if. Pacquiao, despite saying in December of last year that he would give Mayweather the lion’s share, reneged on that offer and demanded a 50-50 division of cash. Mayweather was no better, of course, trying to low ball his arch rival with a ridiculous offer when just about everyone agrees that Pacquiao deserves just as much in a potential superfight as he does.
But instead of each guy putting their nonsense aside for the sake of making this match happen, they’ve decided to double down on stupidity. Per Ronnie Nathanielsz of Boxing Scene, here is the financial situation as it is now:
TOP Rank promoter Bob Arum has upped the ante, following Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s offer to pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao of a guaranteed $40-million dollar purse, with the American boxer retaining all of the pay-per-view income for a May 5th mega-unification.
Should a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight eventually happen, it is expected to bring in an additional revenue of around $150 million.
Mayweather made the counter-offer after Pacquiao told him during a telephone conversation when the American boxer called the Filipino’s adviser Michael Koncz, that a 50-50 split was fair and reasonable.
“I am offering Mayweather $45 million under the same terms he offered Pacquiao,” Arum told BoxingScene.com/Manila Standard, in reaction to the Mayweather offer.
Make no mistake about it – this is just posturing by both sides. Pacquiao and Mayweather have clearly already come to terms with the fact that no fight will take place this May, and now it’s all about who can get the most amount of blame placed on the other guy's plate. It’s childish and beneath boxing to the max degree, but it's also pretty much what we’ve come to expect from the top two figures in the sport.
Meanwhile, back on Planet Reality, all signs point to Pacquiao facing off against either Miguel Cotto or Timothy Bradley come June. Mayweather’s future is a little more uncertain given his looming jail time and the fact that he still doesn’t have a license from the Nevada State Athletic Commission. If he does end up fighting anyone in May of this year, though, it’s likely to be Saul Alvarez or Cotto (if weight issues mess up the possibility of a fight versus Pacquiao).
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I really like the way the Floyd's media machine spin his irrational antics. Floyd does one stupid stunt and you have to include Pacquiao as doing the same thing. Pacquiao had to expose why he had to turn down the insulting offer of Floyd, otherwise, he would have been blamed again. That's all he did, was that childish?
Why tie Manny on Arum's tongue in cheek offer which was meant to give a dose of his own ridiculous medicine. Nice try! Why don't you ask Floyd why is awfully quiet now? I bet you, the moment Arum announces whom Manny will face next, Floyd will come out of his cave and say that the reason Manny has taken another opponent because he is avoiding him. Face it, Floyd is history. All he does not is to fight newbies, wannabies and oldies, plus women and parking attendants on the side.