MACdre

gotemcoach:

“He talks, he says all this, but you know what: He doesn’t want the fight,” Pacquiao firmly told Yahoo! Sports in an exclusive interview. “I want the fight. I’m the one who has wanted this fight all along.”

Manny Pacquiao has wanted a fight with Floyd Mayweather dating all the way back to Floyd’s days in “retirement.”  Then, last month, Manny mysteriously refused to sign the contract that would have booked the match he’s wanted for years.  Now we know why:

From Kevin Iole:

“He offered me $40 million, and no pay-per-view [money],” Pacquiao said, breaking into a laugh. “No pay-per-view. Can you believe that?  What would he say if I offered him $50 million – not $40 million, $50 million – and said ‘No pay-per-view. Take this money and be happy, but no pay-per-view.’ He wouldn’t do it, either.”

The fight, if it ever happens, would pit the two best fighters and the two biggest draws in the sport against one another. It would likely generate more than $160 million in pay-per-view revenue in the U.S. alone.

“I told him, ‘OK, 50-50 [with the money] and I’ll agree to everything else,’ ” Pacquiao said. “I told him I would agree to all of the other things he was demanding. Everything. Even the blood testing he wanted, I would do it. But it had to be 50-50.”

Pacquiao said he told Koncz to offer Mayweather a guarantee of $50 million with the rest of the revenue being split, with 55 percent going to the winner and 45 percent going to the loser.

One of the many unfortunate problems, and likely the deal-crusher, is that Floyd Mayweather believes he’s the sole reason a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao match-up would gain so much attention.  He thinks he deserves more money.

Why won’t Floyd split the purse 50/50?  Why won’t Floyd agree to give more money to the winner?

@gotem_coach

(photo from the book Manny Pacquiao by David Drebin)