MANILA, Philippines—Let’s split the revenues and the fight is on.
This was Manny Pacquiao’s curt reply to Floyd Mayweather Jr’s taunts on Twitter.
“If he agrees to a 50-50 (sharing), then the fight will push through,” Pacquiao said in Filipino in a GMA-7 interview Thursday.
Pacquiao was replying to Mayweather’s tweets, daring the Filipino eight-division world champion for a megabuck fight on May 5.
On his first tweet Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila), the flamboyant American even had the temerity to call the Sarangani representative a punk.
On Wednesday, Mayweather tweeted again.
“I’m ready to put my belt (World Boxing Council welterweight crown) up. What about you Manny Pacquiao? Let’s make history.”
Given a reprieve on serving his three-month prison sentence for domestic violence until June 1, Mayweather has taken the opportunity to call out Pacquiao, his chief rival for the pound-for-pound king title.
While Pacquiao is willing to do battle with Mayweather on any date provided that the pay-per-view purse is divided equally, promoter Bob Arum thumbed down the date and instead proposed late May or June 9.
Arum wants to maximize the financial potential of the megabuck bout projected to enrich each fighter by at least $50 million by holding it in a makeshift arena that could accommodate 45,000. MGM Grand Arena has a maximum capacity of less than 18,000.
Though chances are remote that either side will give in, fight fans remain hopeful that Pacquiao-Mayweather will push through within the year.
With Arum still in Manila to confer with Pacquiao on the eight-division world champion’s next opponent, a decision is expected to be reach by Saturday.
By then, Mayweather may no longer need to tweet. The flamboyant American will be taken more seriously if he’ll just come up with a fight contract for Pacquiao to sign.
Meanwhile, renowned trainer Freddie Roach took the cudgels for his prized ward in answering Mayweather’s tweets.