TheMACHINE
03-23-2011, 03:15 PM
What a douche.
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http://espn.go.com/sports/boxing/blog/_/name/rafael_dan/id/6250169/mayweather-seeking-100-million-fight
Mayweather seeking $100 million for fight?
March, 23, 2011Mar 2311:51AM ETEmail Print Comments243 While pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao trains in the Philippines for his May 7 Showtime PPV fight against Shane Mosley, Floyd Mayweather Jr. is always part of the conversation.
Pacquiao-Mayweather is the fight that sports fans around the world would love to see, and it has been that way for a couple of years now.
As we all know, there have been at least two rounds of failed negotiations. During the first one, it was a disagreement over drug testing protocol that killed the fight. The Mayweather camp has refused to even acknowledge the second round of talks, even though Top Rank's Bob Arum (Pacquiao's promoter), backed up by HBO's Ross Greenburg -- who still had Pacquiao before losing him to Showtime -- says that they took place.
In any event, it seems there may have been a third round of talks that were kept private while they were going on. At least, that is if you believe Arum, which isn't always easy to do.
Arum, visiting Pacquiao's training camp in Baguio City this week, told Filipino reporters that there had been a more recent "private negotiation" for the fight.
What held it up, Arum said, was Mayweather's financial demands. The fighter's self-proclaimed nickname is, after all, "Money."
"We went through negotiations with Mayweather, nobody really knew about it," Arum was quoted as saying during his session with the reporters. "Some group came in and they wanted to put [the fight] on in a particular country [widely believed to be South Africa], and Mayweather asked for a number that was so high, it indicated that he didn't want to fight.
"Take a guess at the number that he asked for, for himself? One-hundred. That's right, $100 million. ... Who's going to pay him $100 million? I mean, unless Manny Pacquiao fights for nothing, how can you do the fight? [Mayweather] can't say no, he doesn't want the fight, so you price yourself out."
If what Arum says is true -- or even close to true -- it's hard to argue against Arum's point that it was Mayweather's way of saying he simply does not want the fight.
The adage in boxing is that there are two ways to get out of a fight: say no or just price yourself out of it.
Obviously, Pacquiao-Mayweather would be a gargantuan financial windfall for everyone involved. I'm not alone in the belief that, if it ever happens, it will shatter every revenue record in boxing history. I have always believed it would be the first fight to do 3 million in pay-per-view buys and easily break the record set by Mayweather's 2007 fight with Oscar De La Hoya, which did more than 2.4 million.
I believe the fight also will shatter the gate record, which is nearly $18.5 million for Mayweather-De La Hoya at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The point: There's a ton of money in a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight. But enough to pay one guy $100 million? No way.
If each side takes 50 percent of the revenue -- and remember, the promoters also need to make money and have every right to do so -- each fighter could be in line for perhaps a $50 million payday. Maybe even more if the fight went into the stratosphere. But $100 million? Still no way.
Mayweather's pie-in-the-sky request, if it's true, just says Mayweather doesn't really want the fight.
-----------------------------
http://espn.go.com/sports/boxing/blog/_/name/rafael_dan/id/6250169/mayweather-seeking-100-million-fight
Mayweather seeking $100 million for fight?
March, 23, 2011Mar 2311:51AM ETEmail Print Comments243 While pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao trains in the Philippines for his May 7 Showtime PPV fight against Shane Mosley, Floyd Mayweather Jr. is always part of the conversation.
Pacquiao-Mayweather is the fight that sports fans around the world would love to see, and it has been that way for a couple of years now.
As we all know, there have been at least two rounds of failed negotiations. During the first one, it was a disagreement over drug testing protocol that killed the fight. The Mayweather camp has refused to even acknowledge the second round of talks, even though Top Rank's Bob Arum (Pacquiao's promoter), backed up by HBO's Ross Greenburg -- who still had Pacquiao before losing him to Showtime -- says that they took place.
In any event, it seems there may have been a third round of talks that were kept private while they were going on. At least, that is if you believe Arum, which isn't always easy to do.
Arum, visiting Pacquiao's training camp in Baguio City this week, told Filipino reporters that there had been a more recent "private negotiation" for the fight.
What held it up, Arum said, was Mayweather's financial demands. The fighter's self-proclaimed nickname is, after all, "Money."
"We went through negotiations with Mayweather, nobody really knew about it," Arum was quoted as saying during his session with the reporters. "Some group came in and they wanted to put [the fight] on in a particular country [widely believed to be South Africa], and Mayweather asked for a number that was so high, it indicated that he didn't want to fight.
"Take a guess at the number that he asked for, for himself? One-hundred. That's right, $100 million. ... Who's going to pay him $100 million? I mean, unless Manny Pacquiao fights for nothing, how can you do the fight? [Mayweather] can't say no, he doesn't want the fight, so you price yourself out."
If what Arum says is true -- or even close to true -- it's hard to argue against Arum's point that it was Mayweather's way of saying he simply does not want the fight.
The adage in boxing is that there are two ways to get out of a fight: say no or just price yourself out of it.
Obviously, Pacquiao-Mayweather would be a gargantuan financial windfall for everyone involved. I'm not alone in the belief that, if it ever happens, it will shatter every revenue record in boxing history. I have always believed it would be the first fight to do 3 million in pay-per-view buys and easily break the record set by Mayweather's 2007 fight with Oscar De La Hoya, which did more than 2.4 million.
I believe the fight also will shatter the gate record, which is nearly $18.5 million for Mayweather-De La Hoya at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The point: There's a ton of money in a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight. But enough to pay one guy $100 million? No way.
If each side takes 50 percent of the revenue -- and remember, the promoters also need to make money and have every right to do so -- each fighter could be in line for perhaps a $50 million payday. Maybe even more if the fight went into the stratosphere. But $100 million? Still no way.
Mayweather's pie-in-the-sky request, if it's true, just says Mayweather doesn't really want the fight.