Should the much-awaited fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. finally materializes, it would go down as the highest grossing bout in boxing history with net projections of $300 million or even more.
A Middle Eastern investment group, who has had previous involvement in boxing, is reportedly planning to bankroll the record-shattering bout. The fight itself is expected to net at least $300 million while Floyd Mayweather Jr. should be looking at a windfall of a payout as he was reportedly offered by the group a nine-figure amount just to agree to the fight, according to the Inquisitr.
By nine figures, it only means that Mayweather is being lured for at least $100 million just to agree to the fight. With that amount of money, Money would surely be hardpressed to refuse.
But latest media reports hinted that the payout offer to Mayweather is actually $120 million, which make it even juicier and Floyd Jr. would be foolish not to accept such a gargantuan offer, reports Boxing Scene.
M. Akbar Muhammad, a long-time boxing executive who previously worked with renowned promoter Don King, and currently one of the principals of the Dubai-based group pushing for the fight, confirmed the $120 million offer.
Should Floyd Jr. bites the offer, he will become the first athlete to receive the largest payday for a single event in the history of sports. There is no athlete among the richest sports in the planet that would match the intended payout for Mayweather, according to Muhammad.
Other than boxing, the world’s richest sports include baseball, basketball, soccer, cricket, tennis, golf, and Formula 1 racing.
Muhammad also disclosed that the formal offer has been presented to the Mayweather camp. Both Pacquiao and Mayweather have verbally agreed to fight in the spring of 2015 although until both camps sign below the dotted line, nothing is still final at this point.
The spokesman for the Dubai-based investment group also believes that Mayweather and the ‘Money Team’ would not even think twice of refusing the offer to fight Pacquiao in Abu Dhabi, believing that there is no other group that can offer a higher payout.
Muhammad also believes that apart from record-shattering, Mayweather’s decision to finally fight Pacquiao is cutting edge and trend-setting, given the huge money involved, something that the world of sports may be embracing in the not too distant future.
He likewise believes that having the world’s most anticipated boxing bout held outside of Las Vegas shall make the fight a truly global event.
Although details of the fight have yet to be finalized, verbal sparring has already began between Pacquiao and Mayweather, with Money even claiming that the Pacman has been ducking him for years, contrary to the perception of most boxing aficionados.
Mayweather has even set a May 2, 2015 ring date with Pacquiao already. But until the two fighters officially sign the papers for the supposed richest boxing bout in history, everything is still up in the air.