Bob Arum has declared that negotiations will begin this week between himself and representatives from Golden Boy regarding Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather.
He also divulged that November 13th is being earmarked for Pacquiao’s next fight regardless of who the opponent turns out to be.
Both Mayweather and Manny have said that they want the fight to happen, but difficulties aside, which of them needs it more?
Lets take a closer look.
Drawing power
Before his fight with Mosley, Floyd Mayweather was making all kinds of comments about how much he was making and how Pacquiao needed to step up his pay per view game. He even declared that he would have to be paid more and Pacquiao less if he sold significantly more pay per views.
The numbers came in though, and as it turned out not that many people were eager to shell out their shekels to watch Mayweather give old man Mosley a boxing lesson. Well there were 1.2 million, as well as probably many more who watched online without paying, but still, the numbers weren’t as good as Floyd was expecting.
Taking the pay per view non entity known as Josh Clottey out of the picture for the moment, given similar opponents in Miguel Cotto and Shane Mosley, Floyd and Manny seemingly draw very similar numbers. If anything Cotto vs. Pacquiao actually sold slightly more than Mayweather vs. Mosley.
So in essence, both can make decent pay days by themselves. Even when facing less than stellar competition like Joshua Clottey, Pacquao still managed 700k buys. Mayweather’s return against the much smaller Juan Manuel Marquez sold over a million.
Money
Drawing power alone is all well and good, but what really matters in boxing today is money. Either could fight the likes or Andre Berto or Paul Williams and make a decent amount of money, but for hard fights promoters want hard money.
Pacquiao will no doubt need all the money he can make now that he is the world’s first fighting congressman, and some of the reported $40 million per year he makes will go a long way to helping his constituents.
Similarly Mayweather needs the money he makes because frankly he is so bad at keeping it. Tax debts, robberies and con men have all taken their toll in the past, not to mention unwise purchases and living above his admittedly large means.
Ranking relevance
At the moment, there is a lot of dispute between boxing fans as to whether Mayweather or Pacquiao is the top pound for pound fighter in the world. Some say Mayweather’s win over Mosley is enough to put him on top. Others say this is still his only big win at welterweight, and that he is still in second place.
Personally, I think beating Cotto and Mosley is about the same, but that beating Clottey at welterweight is more impressive than beating Marquez. So Pacquiao is slightly ahead, although Mayweather could go into first place if he takes on better competition than Pacquiao in the future.
Neither fighter seems that bothered about rankings, titles and the like, preferring instead to let their work speak for itself in the ring. Mayweather recently turned down fighting for the WBA belt, and while Pacquiao holds a belt, he isn’t worried about unification.
Legacy
Both Mayweather and Pacquiao have assured their respective legacies in the sport through what they have already achieved. Without each other though, there will always be a footnote next to each of their names in boxing annals stating that neither fought the other all time great they competed at the same time as.
Sure Mayweather might remain undefeated for the rest of his career and Pacquiao might well win a title in a record 8th weight class, but what each of them need as the crowning jewel in their records is a win over the other.
Alf Gonzales, Pittsburgh: “Pacquiao will need the fight more now because he has hospitals and boxing gyms to build for his people.”
Jeb Glazer, Philly: “Golden Boy and Arum wont let this fight happen because neither of them want their cash cows to lose. If Pac loses who does arum have to make his millions, Pavlik? Give me a break. The same thing goes for Golden Boy, none of their other fighters are ready to become a big star”
Ryan Hogan, Pittsburgh: “Pacquiao needs this fight more because he needs to prove he is clean and shut Floyd and the rest of his doubters for good”
