The much awaited fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao will finally be happening in less than 60 days from the time that Money officially announced the mega-bout on February 21.
Initial speculations suggest that the mega-fight would be worth $250 million although some boxing analysts believe that it could reach up to $400 million, officially making it the richest boxing bout in history, bar none.
While speculations have been rife that the fight is on following Pacquiao and Mayweather’s one-on-one meeting in Miami on January 27, Mayweather remained non-committal until February 21 when he just let it all out.
Before officially announcing the fight, Money said that he has no problem getting on with the fight against Manny Pacquiao once the negotiations have been completed. He said there is no fight contract yet so how can anyone sign if there is no document thus far.
A source close to Manny Pacquiao said that the Filipino boxing icon has completed his contractual obligations on February 13 and that Mayweather will be doing the same in the coming days. The same source said that Mayweather will be announcing the fight as part of the gentlemen’s agreement that the two boxers may have agreed upon during their one-on-one meeting in Miami late in January.
Since Mayweather was in New York during the previous weekend t0 buy tons of jewelry, there were speculations that Money will announce that the Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight is on during the NBA All-Star Game at Madison Square Garde, reports The Telegraph. As it turned out, Mayweather made the opposite announcement.
The same Pacquiao source said that Manny has signed his side of the agreement and it will all be up to Mayweather to do the same to close the deal and announce the fight.
The fight will have 60-40 purse split in favor of the American. Mayweather would earn a cool $150 million, which is undoubtedly the biggest and richest payday in sports history.
Signs that the fight is on even before it was announced
After the personal meeting between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Miami on January 27, things have turned around for the world’s most anticipated mega-fight, which prior to that point, already looks very remote.
During that one-on-one meeting, a video that was posted by Mayweather on his Instagram, caught Money saying to Pacquiao that the two of them have to make the fight happen before they leave the sport.
Pacquiao has kept mum on what transpired during his meeting with Mayweather and just told media and sports journalists to just wait for the official announcement.
But the clear indication that the fight is a go is the fact that Pacquiao has already started training. While he did not say to whom he is training for, it was already obvious that he knows something that the public and the media still do not know.
It is most likely part of the condition set by Mayweather during their one-on-one meeting that he will be the one to announce the fight and nobody else, especially not Bob Arum, Top Rank chief, who is the promoter of Manny Pacquiao.
The fight is already slated for May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas consistent with what Floyd Mayweather told during an interview in December 2014.
The mega-fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather is likely to break all boxing’s box-office records including the all-time pay-per-view buy record of 2.4 million recorded during the Mayweather-Oscar De La Hoya fight.
Both camps have also come to terms on the use of the eight-ounce gloves and also agreed on a pre- and post-fight drug testing program.