Floyd and Manny battle over cash

Feb 5 2012 by Tony Jeffries, Sunday Sun

THE long-running saga of Floyd Mayweather's match-up with Manny Pacquiao has taken yet another twist.

It’s the fight everyone wants to see in 2012, but it’s been on and off I don’t know how many times.

The latest stumbling block is money.

Pound-for-pound king Mayweather was going to give WBO welterweight champion Pacquiao a piece of the action by letting him get a huge $40m payday for the fight against him on May 5, but Pacquiao didn’t want to accept the offer.

Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum wanted an even share of the pie in a mega-fight with Floyd.

A 50-50 split would be fair, because this fight will generate a lot more than $80m. Mayweather said he doesn’t need Pacquiao to make huge money.

He’s fighting WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto on May 5, and that pay-per-view fight is going to bring in big bucks for both Mayweather and Cotto.

Although Puerto Rican Cotto was stopped in the 12th round by Pac Man in 2009, he’s come back with three brilliant wins against some top fighters, which gives him the right and makes him a worthy opponent for “Money May”.

He’s won 37 of his 39 fights with 30 KOs, including a points win over Shane Mosley, but I still think Mayweather will be too good for him. Arrogantly talking in the third person, Mayweather told ABS-CBN News: “Without Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather is still gonna make $60-70m in 30 minutes. Tell him to watch me and Miguel Cotto. I’m happy that I am my own promoter, you know. I am my own promoter. There’s a lot of money to go around.”

Mayweather doesn’t have to give a promoter 25% of his earnings and thus makes a huge amount of money each time he fights. Sixty-million dollars for a fight against Cotto would be out of this world. If Mayweather can bring that kind of money in against Cotto, I can see why he doesn’t want to go 50-50 with Pacquiao because he’d only be trying to cut in on Mayweather’s cash.

Pacquiao deserves an even split because he’s probably the biggest ticket-seller.