Team Pacquiao has reached out to Floyd Mayweather Jr. with an offer of 70 percent of the pay-per-view (PPV) money going to the winner of a possible bout between Manny Pacquiao and the undefeated American fighter, Pacquiao business advisor Rex "Wakee" Salud confirmed to GMA News Online.
The 70-30 split is the latest in the back-and-forth negotiations between the two factions, as money has become the latest stumbling block to getting the fight, boxing fans all over the world wanted to see, off the ground.
Mayweather first called Pacquiao personally, and offered the Sarangani congressman a flat $40 million amount to fight him, with the Grand Rapids, Michigan native keeping the entirety of the PPV money.
Top Rank CEO and Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum countered with a $50 million offer to Mayweather with Pacquiao getting the PPV proceeds, but that too was rejected by the five-division world champion.
The Pacquiao side then put on the table a 55-45 split, with the winner bagging the larger amount of the pot, but it was turned down again by Mayweather.
Afterwards, Mayweather announced that he was filling his May 5 contractual obligation with Miguel Cotto, while Pacquiao settled for Timothy Bradley Jr.
Salud is hopeful that this latest offer of a 70-30 split will be enough to entice Mayweather to arrange a fight date after "Money" serves his jail term for domestic abuse, but Mayweather has been adamant about getting the entire PPV pie, no questions asked.
In an interview with Bob Costas on NBC Sports, Mayweather said, "How my deal is structured at this particular time in the sport of boxing, I keep 100 percent of the revenue. So why should I even give a guy 50-50 if I'm out there?"
"I have record breaking numbers that I've done. He has no record breaking numbers. With or without Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather is okay."
Salud first broke news of the negotiations on the radio station DZSR 918.
In the past, Floyd Mayweather demanded that Pacquiao accept strict, Olympic-style drug testing. Eventually, Pacquiao accepted, as long as a neutral organization other than the US Anti-Doping Agency, did the tests.
Last January, Mayweather called Pac-man out repeatedly on Twitter, but this time, the bone of contention was the date of the fight. Mayweather wanted it to happen on May 5 at the MGM Grand to fulfill a contract he had signed, but Arum insisted on pushing the date back in order to construct an outdoor arena that would increase the number of seats and revenue.
Mayweather though, will be serving time starting in June, after a judge allowed his jail term for domestic abuse to be pushed back.
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