Sam Watson, a close associate of Al Haymon, says that the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Manny Pacquiao fight is close to being done. It’s being worked on, and they’re at the part where they’re trying to iron out the Showtime and HBO deal. Both networks will likely be televising the fight on pay per view on the same night.
This part of the deal is going to be tricky, and one can only hope that they don’t mess things up. Pacquiao has reportedly agreed to a 60-40 split of the money.
“They’re putting it together now,” Watson said as quoted by espn.co.uk. “They’re going to do a Showtime-HBO [joint pay-per-view] like they did last time with Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson. They’re working on the monies now and everything they’ve got to work on to make it happen. I can’t wait. It’s going to be huge.”
The fight is very close to becoming a reality. At this point there really isn’t anything left that could foil the negotiations unless Mayweather decides he doesn’t want the fight. However, he reportedly does want it. The money is just too good, and the alternatives are completely rotten.
If Mayweather doesn’t face Pacquiao, then there will be pressure on Mayweather to fight the likes of Amir Khan and Keith Thurman. Those are tough match-ups for Mayweather, and they’re fights that wouldn’t pay a lot of money like the Pacquiao fight would.
Mayweather only has a couple of fights left on his original Showtime contract of six fights, but he’s run out of interesting opponents unfortunately. Khan has no fan base in the U.S, and neither does Thurman. Both of them use a lot of movement, so it could potentially be a case where Mayweather is the stationary fighter facing guys that back off if you even look at them wrong. For the soon to be 39-year-old Mayweather, it wouldn’t be a good deal for him to have to deal with guys with movement.
