Where Floyd Mayweather Jr. has used his Twitter account to tell Manny Pacquiao to “step up punk,” adding that he is “ready to put my belt up,” his Filipino counterpart has responded publicly from the Philippines, declaring that he will fight for a 50-50 split of the purse.
“To all of my fans…Mayweather just needs to agree to and accept a 50 percent split, and if he does, then the fight will go through. He’s the one who needs to agree,” Pacquiao told TV Patrol of ABS-CBN in his native Philippines.
“He’s the one who has to say yes. The reason is because he talks to a lot of people. He has a lot of representatives. If he takes the fight, he can make $50-to-60 million. That’s how much he can make.”
Pacquiao had more to say during a Thursday press conference in Manila, where he was joined by Top Rank Inc. CEO, Bob Arum, his promoter.
“I want to fight him. This is the fight the world wants. Mayweather wants a guaranteed purse, so what he has to do is get a promoter who can give him the guarantee,” said Pacquiao.
“I don’t have problems getting a guarantee because I have a promoter who will give me my guaranteed purse. If he gets a guarantee, then we are going to share the revenue on a 50-50 basis.”
Their debates come during a week when both fighters are expected to announce that they will fight separate opponents.
On Tuesday, Mayweather initiated the dialogue from his Twitter.
“Manny Pacquiao I’m calling you out. Let’s fight May 5th and give the world what they want to see,” wrote Mayweather, who avoided a 90-day jail sentence until June 1 which had threatened his announced target return date of May 5 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. “My jail sentence was pushed back because the date was locked in. Step up punk.”
