With his tax problem behind him, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is now comfortable discussing such things as investment strategy and business sense. He sat down this week with Bloomberg’s Julie Hyman and the topic of Manny Pacquiao came up. Mayweather, however, refused to elaborate as to whether a fight with Manny Pacquiao will ever be part of his financial portfolio.
“[Pacquiao] is absolutely a good fighter,” Mayweather said. Asked by Hyman if he intends to fight Manny and the story remains unchanged because Money May is taking things “one day at a time.” Speaking about himself in the third person, Mayweather couldn’t resist foreshadowing what would be complicated fight negotiations because “he’s his own boss and Manny Pacquiao has a boss.” “It takes a lot of things, it takes a lot of things to make a fight of that magnitude happen,” Mayweather said after being pressed by Hyman to detail what could be done to get the fight made. “We must see eye to eye and look at things on certain terms to get the fight done.”
What things and what terms? First, there is the venue. Las Vegas it is, deal. Next, what about the television rights? Not a problem, HBO PPV has it covered and will certainly toss in a full on 24/7 series to help line up pay-per-view demand. Who enters the ring first? Flip a coin. What about weight and purse split? Okay, now we’re in deal breaker territory.
Bob Arum said that a 60/40 split demand from Mayweather is the walk away point. Why not agree to 60/40 if Mayweather concedes to fight at 140lbs? Answer: Mayweather probably can’t get that low. Well then, how about adding a point and a half for every pound that Manny has to come up in weight from 140lbs? This gives Mayweather contract control over both his share of the purse and the catch weight.
Alternatively, perhaps both sides could back the smack. Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, said that Mayweather would be the easiest test compared to fights against Miguel Cotto and Shane Mosley. Similarly, Mayweather believes that he is nothing short of Sugar Ray Leonard. So negotiate the weight with a 40/40 purse split and whoever wins takes home the additional 20 percent. Get some!
The reality is that both men do not need to fight each other for financial reasons; however, they both need the match with respect to the legacy side of the ledger. Pacquiao needs it because some circles believe, present company excluded, that he lost both fights against Juan Manuel Marquez, defeated the shell of Oscar De La Hoya, and the overrated Ricky Hatton. Mayweather needs it because critics say, present company included, that he hasn’t fought a legitimate opponent since Diego Corrales.
The elephant in the room, however, is Miguel Cotto. What happens on November 14th changes everything. If Cotto defeats Pacquiao, and does so soundly, then the Mayweather option for Pacquiao is moot. If Pacquiao wins decisively though, then the negotiating landscape has forever changed.
Mayweather wasn’t able to knockout Marquez last month. If Manny can knockout Cotto next month, then anything less than a 50/50 split to fight Mayweather is not an option. In this circumstance, a Floyd, Jr. refusal to throw down on equal terms does nothing other than to solidify his legacy as a runner–inside the ring and out of it. Legacies can be tough that way.
