Manny Pacquiao flew to Los Angeles on Wednesday, preparing for a meeting with contestants of the Miss Universe pageant.
Whether he has an even bigger date on May 2 seems entirely up to Floyd Mayweather.
Promoter
Bob Arum said Pacquiao has agreed to all terms for what would be
boxing's richest fight ever, a bout with Mayweather that fans have been
demanding for five years.
The question now is whether the long-reluctant Mayweather will
finally sign on the dotted line for what could be an astonishing $US120
million ($A130 million) payday for the fighter.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Arum told The Associated Press.
"I
don't want to be antagonistic and say he's not on board and not going
to sign. The representation is that he is on board with this."
Negotiations
with Mayweather's representatives over the past few weeks have resulted
in agreements on everything from the date and site of the fight (MGM
Grand in Las Vegas) to purse split (reportedly 60-40 in Mayweather's
favour) to the type of gloves the boxers will wear.
But Mayweather
has yet to personally agree to the fight, and the possibility remained
that Arum was publicly discussing Pacquiao agreeing to terms to try to
up the pressure on the unbeaten boxer to sign.
"We're waiting for Mayweather to sign a document saying," Arum said.
The fight would be held at the MGM, where Mayweather has fought exclusively for years.
The
15,000-seat arena would be scaled for a $US40 million ($A43 million)
live gate and Arum claimed with pay-per-view revenues, the bout could
generate $US200 million ($A217 million).
With a 60-40 split, that
would mean a potential $US120 million ($A130 million) payday for
Mayweather and his team and $US80 million ($A87 million) for Pacquiao
and his promoter. Both would be record purses for fighters.
Mayweather
has resisted a Pacquiao fight for five years, first claiming Pacquiao
would not agree to drug testing and later saying it wasn't worth facing
him in the ring.
But Arum said Pacquiao has long since agreed to
the testing, and the pressure has built on Mayweather to come to terms
on the bout.
AP
No comments:
Post a Comment