Dan Rafael of ESPN recently reported that negotiations for Pacquiao vs. Mayweather have recently begun. On Monday morning, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer flew from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to meet with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum for lunch at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV. Both parties have agreed to keep the negotiations private and out of the media. Schaefer was recently quoted as saying, "As part of the negotiations both Bob and I had to agree to keep all discussions confidential. No further comments will be made until such time that we either have a deal or the negotiations fall apart."
While Schaefer does not currently have a promotional contract with Mayweather, the two maintain a friendly working relationship and have successfully worked together to negotiate Money May's last three fights. Schaefer further elaborated, "Floyd and me want to see if we can get the fight done. The fact that I am flying to Las Vegas to meet with Bob shows you how serious our side is about making the fight. Bob and I will approach this without egos and try to get it done under fair terms. Floyd gave me his marching orders and I will see today how it goes and report back."
In his last outting on September 19 at the MGM Grand, Mayweather returned from a 21 month retirement to face Juan Manuel Marquez. Mayweather unanimously outpointed Marquez, in a PPV event that generated approximately 1.05 million buys. The Pacquiao vs. Cotto PPV produced 1.25 million buys and generated $70 million in revenue. Arum also confirmed the meeting with Schaefer, as he informed ESPN, ""I can confirm I am meeting with Richard, but I'm not going to talk about the specifics. It's a meeting where we will try to make the fight. Whether it can be made or not in this meeting, I don't know. We'll see what we will see."
As this commentator stated in a previous post, the idea of Schaefer negotiating this fight with Arum rather than Mayweather's advisors Leonard Ellerbe or Al Haymon, is an intelligent business decision. Schaefer's job is to effectively communicate Team Mayweather's position to Arum as fairly and professionally as possible. Talks between Schaefer and Arum, who have also developed a sound working relationship, are not likely to envoke as much ego or tension as talks between Arum and either Ellerbe or Haymon would.
However both sides end up spliting the money, this is still going to be the biggest pay day of both fighter's careers. As far as ideas for purse splits, how about adding the incentive of an additional bonus for the fighter who emerges as the victor? Perhaps they split the initial purse 48/48 with the additional four percent being awarded to the winner? How about 50/50, with a greater percentage of the PPV revenue being issued to the winner? Mayweather probably maintains an edge in domestic popularity, whereas Pacquiao enjoys the greater international fan base. I recently read the idea of an initial purse split of 50/50, with 55/45 of the domestic PPV revenue going to Mayweather and 55-45 of international PPV going to Pacquiao. That is a brilliant idea.
There are a number of reasonable ways to get this fight signed. Let us hope that Schaefer and Arum realize them throughout their meetings with one another. As a hardcore boxing fan, I sincerely hope they can find some way to get Pacquiao vs. Maywaether sealed and delivered. After all it is the first time, in God knows how long, that the top two universally recognized pound for pound best fighters in the world are campaigning at the same weight, in their respective primes, and could conceivably meet each other. Remember, Mr. Schaefer and Mr. Arum - common sense, good faith negotiations while keeping the fans and the sport of boxing in mind. Find a way to make everyone happy.
Both combatants are already wealthier than Rockefeller. The magnitude and significance of this event far outweighs the ever so common dollar sign.
photo courtesy: golden boy
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