The mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Pacquiao could get done in the next week to week and a half, according to an inside source that spoke to LA Times writer Lance Pugmire on Friday. The blood testing and venue have both been agreed on, and now the only thing that’s left to iron out is the purse split for the fight.
We’re making progress,” the source told Pugmire at Latimes.com.
The purse split is the tricky part. Pacquiao is said to be okay with getting a 60-40 deal with Mayweather getting the lion’s share, but it’s unclear whether that’s a good enough deal for Mayweather to agree to.
Pacquiao might need to give a little more in order to make the fight happen because 60-40 isn’t really giving Mayweather too much credit for his superior pay-per-view numbers he’s been routinely getting over the years in compared to Pacquiao, and it’s not giving Mayweather credit for having an unbeaten record.
Mayweather dominated Juan Manuel Marquez in 2009, a fighter that some boxing fans feel that Pacquiao lost to all four times he fought the Mexican warrior. If Mayweather is willing to give Pacquiao a 60-40 deal, we’ll likely see the fight negotiations wrapped up in the next week or so. But if Mayweather feels that he should get a better deal than a 60-40, then this thing could go on and the fight might not get made.
Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum night not be willing to have his fighter take a potential loss on a 65-35 or 70-30 deal. Arum might choose to hold out and hope that Mayweather will come back to the bargaining table at a later date in the future with a better deal. I’m not sure that he will, but I’d be willing to bet that the 83-year-old Arum will be willing to scrape the negotiations if the deal isn’t sweet enough.
