Reports are leaking out that Floyd Mayweather Jr has an issue with the purse money being offered to him for a fight against the pound for pound king, Manny Pacquiao. If it’s an issue on whether or not who gets the lion’s share of the purse, it should be Manny Pacquiao that does. Pacquiao is the cash cow, he’s the one the generates the huge PPV numbers, so why shouldn’t he get the lion’s share?
Winning seven division titles and literally carrying the sport on his back should have some merit here too. Why is there even some debate on this? We have written time and time again about how many world titles Manny has won, and in how many divisions. We have written about how Manny gives back, and all of the things that he’s done for people around the world. We have written about all of Manny’s outside of the ring accomplishments, and we have written about the level of competition that he has defeated. So the next thing that we should all be writing about is about Manny getting the bigger purse percentage.
Sure, Mayweather sells tickets and he sells PPV’s. He and Mosley sold about a million and a half PPV’s. When you inject Pacquiao’s name into the mix, the PPV’s go up, way up. The network (HBO) knows that Manny brings huge numbers so there shouldn’t be any issue on who gets the bigger piece of the cake here.
While covering the boxing matches in Tunica, Mississippi this past weekend I spoke to several people concerning this fight. Jr middleweight prospect Shawn Porter, a former sparring partner of Manny Pacquiao headlined the card. Porter is thrilled that he had the chance to work with Pacquiao and told this writer how much better of a fighter he is since having that opportunity. The fans in the crowd that I spoke with all hope that this fight can be made. They are tired of the steroid talks, and of the delay, they just want it to get done.
Read up on the latest from Michael Marley here – http://www.examiner.com/x-5699-Boxing-Examiner~y2010m5d25-Floyd-Mayweather-Jr-Man-mouse-or-just-mannequin
Mississippians that I talked to about the purse issue in Tunica, MS were split on this topic. A few people in the crowd were Mayweather fans, so obviously they wanted Floyd to get the larger cut. Angela Reyna, a Mayweather fan talked about Floyd’s accomplishments, “Floyd deserves the bigger purse, he’s the real pound for pound king. Floyd is undefeated and brings more fans and sells more tickets.” I also spoke with James McKeon, a Pacquiao fan and he begged to differ, ” Pacquiao IS boxing! There is no reason why he shouldn’t get the bigger piece of the pie, I mean look at what this guy has done in boxing. He is the one who brings the people into the seats, and he is the one who gets the people buying the PPV.”
If this fight is being held up because Mayweather wants more money, it would be worse than the steroid testing issue. Mayweather is all about the money and not so much about the legacy. Money would be an even bigger hurdle to jump than blood testing. Time will tell.
