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MANILA, Philippines – The highly-anticipated clash between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. appears to be coming into fruition as the unbeaten American’s camp has confirmed the significant progress in the negotiations.
Sam Watson, one of the inner circles of Mayweather’s adviser Al Haymon, revealed the remaining details of the mega fight are being ironed out and asserted that the bout’s announcement is imminent.
“He’s my best friend, [and] I work for him (Haymon). I’m with him every day. I believe it’s going to happen. I believe that everybody involved wants it to happen. I know Floyd wants it,” Watson said in an interview with The Guardian.
It marked the first time that Mayweather’s party has addressed questions and issues about the marquee match-up in a figurative manner as Watson’s comments gave credibility to previous reports of the ongoing dialogue between the two opposing sides.
Top Rank Promotions chief Bob Arum recently disclosed that Pacquiao has agreed to the terms presented to him by Mayweather for a 12-round encounter on May 2 (May 3 in PH) at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena, with a 60/40 purse split that would favor boxing’s pound-for-pound king.
Aside from the date, location and purse split of the heavily-hyped confrontation, the two decorated pugilists of this generation also accepted the drug testing protocols to be followed for the fight as Pacquiao and Mayweather are likely to undergo random screening.
Still standing as the crucial point of the talks would be securing the pay-per-view network partner as the 37-year-old Mayweather maintained on numerous occasions that that the bout should be broadcasted on Showtime, while Pacquiao is hooked with HBO.
However, Watson stressed that both television companies will be involved as this was the solution which was worked out when Mike Tyson faced Lennox Lewis in 2002.
“They’re putting it together now. They’re going to do a Showtime-HBO [joint pay-per-view] like they did last time with Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson. They’re working on the monies now and everything they’ve got to work on to make it happen,” he stated. – Rappler.com
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