Pacquiao sets deadline for mega fight vs Mayweather

MANILA, Philippines – Manny Pacquiao has placed a deadline for Floyd Mayweather Jr. to seal the deal on their long-awaited showdown inside the ring.

In an interview with LA Times’ Lance Pugmire, the Filipino boxing icon stressed that he is only giving the unbeaten American boxer by the end of January to sign the contract.

“My promoter and I, we’ve already agreed to the terms and conditions of whatever he wants. We’re just waiting on the signed contract from him,” Pacquiao said. “That’s the hard part if they will fight or not. We have to know soon because if they will not fight, we can move on and choose another opponent. We have a deadline [until the end of] this month.”

Pacquiao already gave his approval to the terms that were 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, both men also accepted the drug testing protocols to be followed for the fight as Pacquiao and Mayweather are likely to undergo random screening.

However, the 37-year-old Mayweather has yet to commit to a marquee match-up that has been more than five years in the making.

READ: Pacquiao tells Mayweather: ‘It’s time to say yes’ to fight

“The fans deserve this fight. No more will people bother me, ‘Can this fight happen?’ It’s time to make it happen. We’re waiting on a signed contract from him,” Pacquiao quipped.

Sam Watson, one of the inner circles of Mayweather’s adviser Al Haymon, recently confirmed the significant progress in the negotiations and revealed that the remaining details of the mega fight are being ironed out.

Still standing as the crucial point of the talks would be securing the pay-per-view network partner as Mayweather maintained on numerous occasions that that the bout should be broadcasted on Showtime, while Pacquiao is hooked with HBO.

According to Watson, both television companies will be involved as this was the solution which was worked out when Lennox Lewis faced Mike Tyson in 2002.

The heavyweight championship clash between Lewis and Tyson was the highest grossing pay-per-view during that moment in time, earning 1.95 million buys in the United States and generating a revenue of $106.9 million.

Further doubts were cast upon the Pacquiao-Mayweather duel taking place when the dialogue for an in-ring faceoff between Miguel Cotto and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez broke down.

There is a possibility that Mayweather could choose a rematch with Cotto instead, nearly three years after convincingly outpointing the Puerto Rican slugger. – Rappler.com