The thorny stumbling block to the anticipated fight between two of boxing pretenders and contenders to the mythical pound for pound king rests on the purse split – who gets the bigger slice of the pie.
The two, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. are not separated by distant pasts when it comes to laying claim on who is the best boxer in the planet and who the bigger draw is.
But each of them cannot afford to live in the past and scuttle what probably will be the biggest and most lucrative fight in the history of boxing.
Forget about the weight issue. Pacquiao will give Mayweather what he wants. They can fight on even terms at 147-lb welterweight limit.
But the purse issue? Negotiating this one is akin to walking in the middle of the war in Afghanistan.
One can get in the crossfire and that’s it.
No fight to speak of.
Pressure, however, is on both sides as this is one fight that history would not be kind to either of them, their so-called ‘Teams’ included, if they let it pass.
A 50-50 purse split is not bad at all to assuage Floyd’s big ego.
Pacquiao coach Freddie Roach has offered a US$10 million guaranteed purse each with the winner taking all the upside of the windfall in the upside of the pay per view (PPV) sales which could zoom off the charts.
But there is a Solomonic compromise that is even better that Roach’s.
How about a US$12 million guaranteed purse each and a 60-40 split on the upside of PPV buys?
Assuming the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight pushes through and generates 2.5 million buys, which is probable, it could generate a whooping US$150 million gross at US$60 per buy, excluding live gate and close circuit TV receipts.
Half of the PPV revenues automatically go to HBO and the promoters. That will leave both fighters with US$75 million to share. Less the US$24 million guaranteed prize money, 60 per cent of the US$51 million goes to the winner and the rest to the loser.
This compromise figure could net the winner US$42.6 million while the loser takes home US$32.4 million. Not bad, eh?
You can juggle and add or subtract a couple of percentage in the PPV and everybody still goes his way to the bank laughing.
Even if the PPV will get a ‘dismal’ 1.5 buys, the winner of the bout will still have extra dollars than the loser.
Complicated math but simple solution to settle the purse war.
In the end HBO will still get its lion share and Maywaehter will still get a couple or so because he promotes himself.
It might even cancel out Manny’s advantage should he win and get the bigger upside of the PPV.
Both camps know that this is a cash bonanza they cannot afford to lose and cannot find elsewhere.
