Manny Pacquiao says he does not need a Floyd Mayweather fight to complete his boxing career, Bob Velin of USA TODAY shares.
The Pacman remains focused on his November 13 bout with Antonio Margarito for the WBC light middleweight title.
Had the fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather taken place, it would most likely have been the highest grossing in boxing history with at least $50 million for each fighter.
Read the whole story from USA Today at http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2010-09-02-manny-pacquiao-antonio-margarito-floyd-mayweather_N.htm
MANILA, Philippines – Unless a 50/50 purse split will be put in place, a Manny Pacquiao superfight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. will not take place.
This was Pacquiao’s stand on the issue, saying that there is no way he’s going to climb up the ring against Mayweather if the split on prize money and other revenues are not even or in other way favorable to the unbeaten American fighter.
“ If it’s going to be a 50/50 split, the fight will definitely push through,” said Pacquiao in an exclusive interview with the Freeman at his suite at Waterfront-Cebu City Hotel and Casino
last Sunday.
Pacquiao and wife Jinkee were in Cebu during the Father’s Day celebration. It was his first trip to the Queen City of the South since he was elected congressman in the lone district of Saranggani province.
“Right now, it’s not year clear. He’s afraid to fight me,” said Pacquiao, who recently received the “Fighter of the Decade” award from the prestigious Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA).
After Pacquiao’s clinical 12-round whipping of Joshua Clottey last March 15 in Texas, Mayweather’s name cropped up as the next possible opponent of the Filipino icon.
But initial negotiations of what could be the richest bout in boxing history fizzled out after Mayweather insisted on an Olympic-style drug testing, which was rejected by Team Pacquiao.
Pacquiao, however, later agreed to drug test procedure provided it wouldn’t be done near fight day but Mayweather reportedly wanted drug testing up to the day of the fight.
The American’s handlers later purportedly demanded for a 60/40 purse split, something that Pacman’s camp wouldn’t agree.
“That is too much for Mayweather to ask. Besides, that’s unfair to Pacquiao because he’s the main draw being the current pound-for-pound king,” said Pacquiao’s confidant and top advisor Rex “Wakee” Salud.
But according to a blog posted on www.usanewsweek.com, the best solution for the megabout to happen is for both fighters to agree on a 50/50 split.
He doubts though if Mayweather will agree to such set-up.
When asked for her comment, Jinkee said her husband is likely to face next Mayweather because “there’s no viable opponent out there other than Floyd.”
Boxing lovers across the globe are keenly waiting for the Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao fight but no such deal is looking to happen in near future and the fans are beginning to feel pessimistic that whether this mega bout will ever happen.
One of the main reasons which had stalled the fight was Mayweather’s call for the random blood testing and Pacquiao’s refusal to do so. Now a new issue has cropped up, which is believed to be proving a roadblock in the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. The issue is related to the financial purse split afforded to each fighter.
It is learnt that the purse is in favor of Mayweather, which sounds a little unreasonable because Pacquiao has been a star in boxing since he defeated Marco Antonio Barrera in 2003 and his fight with Joshua Clottey was superb in terms of revenues. The Pay-per-view bout had attracted 700-thousand buys and 51,000 tickets were sold at 100-thousand seat Cowboys stadium in Texas.
The Filipino sensation is in no way a lesser star than Mayweather and deserves an equal split. Critics may argue that Mayweather have the recent Pay-per-view numbers on his side but Pacquiao can definitely prove a bigger magnet in attracting people to the fight venue. The best solution would be that the fighters agree a 50/50 split and if they are not willing to reach a common ground then a simple solution would be that the winner of the fight gets 60 and the loser walks home with 40 percent.
But it seems unlikely that Mayweather would agree on a 50/50 purse split because he knows that Pacquiao is a tough opponent and he will find it tough to defeat the Filipino star. Mayweather knows that this could be his last mega bout and he wants to earn maximum out of it because if Pacquiao beats him then his next fight on Pay-per-view would not attract much viewers. We will keep you posted with the latest developments in this fight, till then keep your fingers crossed.
While Top Rank promoter Bob Arum remains optimistic and Golden Boy Promotions Oscar De La Hoya claims a mega-buck fight between pound-for-pound king and “Fighter of the Decade” Manny Pacquiao and undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr is almost done, Pacquiao’s conditioning expert Alex Ariza believes it won’t happen because Mayweather doesn’t want to lose.”It’s going to be a big, big fight!”
Ariza said the report that Mayweather was going to take “a little bit of time off ” and the fact that the Nevada State Athletic Commission “slammed the door on the US Anti Doping Agency” by indicating that random drug testing is not going to be a part of the pre and post-fight procedure is certain to make it more difficult to arrive at an agreement.
Ariza stressed what he’s always said and that Mayweather “is afraid to fight Pacquiao.” He said a defeat at the hands of Pacquiao would mean that “for the rest of his life Mayweather will always be associated with the biggest fight in boxing history as the loser of that fight. He wouldn’t be able to deal with that.”
The conditioning guru said “I don’t think you can put a price on that and I think Mayweather is afraid of that (losing) because being undefeated is the only thing that validates Mayweather in his heart and in the sport.”
Given this possibility Ariza said a rematch with newly crowned WBA light middleweight champion Miguel Cotto “is very likely” stating that Pacquiao can win his eighth title in eight different divisions and solidify his position as the greatest fighter. He said fighting Antonio Margarito was also an option and “would be a good fight for us” even as he mentioned Juan Manuel Marquez as another possible opponent.
Asked whether fighting Cotto at 154 pounds would be difficult for Pacquiao, Ariza replied “I don’t think so. I think Manny can knockout Cotto at 154.”
Pacquiao scored a dominating 12th round TKO over Cotto to win the Puerto Rican’s WBO welterweight title and the WBC “Diamond Belt” last November and Ariza feels the extra weight won’t make a difference.
Arum who has been quietly striving to reach and agreement with Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer on a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight said the other day he was still “optimistic” that it could be done.
Oscar De La Hoya on the other hand was far more direct saying “I can’t talk right now in detail about the negotiations but I can say that we are very close.
Up until now, it’s been a very difficult negotiation process for various reasons but right now we’re very close.”
De La Hoya added “I think right now we are very, very close in finalizing the contracts.
The self-admitted non-trash talker Manny Pacquiao, doesn’t need to worry about fighting back in the verbal war between Team PacMan and the Mayweathers; because Manny has Bob Arum to fire back with the heavy artillery. Over the last few days, Arum has struck back at the Mayweathers with some candid comments. Let’s examine further.
Arum on Manny fighting Floyd
“Mayweather against Manny is a no contest, no contest. Manny would wipe the ring with Floyd Mayweather.”Las Vegas Review Journal
Well, Bob there are millions of people who would love to see this. Unfortunately, this megafight might never happen. It’s a shame too. Boxing deserves this fight and so do the fans. Mayweather says he would personally love to fight Floyd but he has to add all these baseless stipulations. I’m sure these comments from Bob will trigger another tirade of lunacy from Floyd Sr.
Arum on what the Mayweathers are doing
“We don’t have to be geniuses to know what they were trying to do. They were trying to get into Manny’s head so he’d be discombobulated,”Las Vegas Review Journal
This was definitely part of the plan. They were trying to get into Manny’s head. But they were also trying to publicly embarrass him and get the people to turn their backs on Manny by condemning him without proof. To some degree they did get into Manny’s head but not to the point where it will limit him in proceeding with his training and upcoming fight with Clottey.
Arum on the Defamation Lawsuit
“We’ll knock him out in the court also because that lawsuit continues on and justice will prevail.”Fighthype.com
We have heard multiple times now that the lawsuit is still ongoing. However, we don’t hear of any specifics. In addition to lack of updates, Manny’s lawyer has not returned multiple phone calls that I have and some of my fellow colleagues have made. I’m becoming more curious as to why the details have become so tight lipped.
Ryan Douglas Sacramento CA “If we can’t see a fight between Floyd and Manny who else would you like to see Floyd fight?”
Ryan, I’m going to answer this in a different way. I would like to see Roger Mayweather and Freddie Roach fight. Then I would like to see Bob Arum and Floyd Sr fight. In fact, I would love to see a battle royal between everyone associated with Team Pacman and the Mayweathers. Perhaps then we could end all of this madness once for all. Oh wait, the Mayweathers would probably demand a rematch clause in the contract.
Jimmy Tippets Roseville, CA “Why do you think we haven’t heard any updates about the lawsuit?”
Jimmy, like I mentioned above, I am curious as well. But if I had to guess, I would say it’s because there has been no response filed by those people that Manny named in his defamation lawsuit. An additional guess would be that I think Team PacMan doesn’t want to do or say anything to compromise the case in any way. I’m sure that Dan Petrocelli’s secretary is getting sick of my calls.
For Manny Pacquiao, 2010 has become a magnet for some of boxing’s well known figures to come out and make accusations about him. These boxing figures accuse Manny of taking meth or being a coward. My initial reaction to these accusations was HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA…. Hold on, let me catch my breath… HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA… Are you kidding me?
He’s on Meth
“That mother***** is on the A-side meth, that’s what the f*** he’s on,” “It’s called the A-side meth. He on that or he on something else. The A-side meth is what they used to have 500 years ago. Remember when the Philippines were fighting the US soldiers? They were shooting them motherf****s with 45s. And 45s were bouncing off their motherf****ng a$$. They weren’t even dying!” — Roger Mayweather (source:Filipino Sports Examiner)
Hey Roger, if Manny were on meth, he wouldn’t be moving up in weight classes he would be moving down. Next, he would have failed at least one drug test by now. And lastly, the man would be tweaking too much to be fighting.
Roger, you are absurd. These comments make no sense and they make you appear to be the one on meth. However, Roger thank you for taking a time out from beating up women to provide us with these hilarious comments.
He’s Scared
If meth accusations weren’t enough, we have multiple fighters coming out and saying or implying that Pacquiao is scared to fight them.
Juan Manuel Marquez: “When the fight between Mayweather against Pacquiao fell through, De La Hoya told me that I was the next option [for Pacquiao] and I told him that I was ready to fight once more with him. He told me that he would speak with Bob Arum, but in the end they surprised me with his decision that he preferred to sign another fight, so once again he is afraid me.” (source: Juan Manuel Marquez must be drunk off his ‘urine’ if he thinks Pacquiao is scared)
Yuri Foreman: ““When the whole Mayweather thing was going on, Freddie Roach said we want to fight. But then when it comes up, they really don’t want to fight.” source: BoxingScene
Roger Mayweather, Juan Manuel Marquez, Yuri Foreman, and Floyd Mayweather Jr are out of their minds. They take these shots at Manny Pacquiao outside of the ring because they can’t do it inside the ring. The Mayweathers are nothing more than cowardly criminals. Marquez has killed too many brain cells with his urine addiction and Foreman better be careful of what he asks for.
I wish that fighters would just fight and keep their mouths shut. I wish criminals like Roger Mayweather would just rot away in prison. Oh well, at least we got a good laugh with this….And that’s all we can do now is just laugh at them. Because we know that Pacquiao is better than them on every level from a boxer to a human being.
To prepare for his March 13 date with boxing’s pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao, Joshua Clottey will be setting up camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. beginning this weekend.
Clottey’s manager Vinny Scolpino says, “Joshua is in great fighting shape right now. He is anxious to get into th ering against Pacquiao.”
The fight will take place at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium on HBO PPV while tickets went on sale this past weekend.
On a related note, Top Rank will be making a $1 donation for each ticket sold for all of their cards for the remainder of 2010 to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. The donations officially began this Saturday night for the Lopez/Gamboa doubleheader in New York.
“Helping people is the right thing to do and we are hoping other promoters will join us,” Arum said.
