Top Rank chief Bob Arum said yesterday that Floyd Mayweather simply doesn’t want a piece of Manny Pacquiao.
“Maybe, that’s his way of saying he doesn’t want to fight Manny,” Arum told the Bulletin in an overseas call.
A few days ago, Mayweather came out on US television, challenging Pacquiao to a May 2, 2015 unification welterweight fight but insisting that he will dictate the contractual terms since he claims to be the top draw.
Despite Mayweather’s latest tirade, Arum said it doesn’t concern him a bit.
“I will just take the right path,” said Arum, referring to his talks with CBS head Les Moonves, who also owns Showtime, the network that broadcasts Mayweather’s fights.
Mayweather, the richest sportsman in the world according to Forbes with $105 million in earnings with just two fights, said that for a Pacquiao fight to happen, it would have to be conducted in his own terms.
Mayweather said Pacquiao doesn’t have the right to get a paycheck that is even in the vicinity of what he is going to make, citing that he has suffered losses to Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez and his fights haven’t been doing well in pay-per-view buys.
But Arum said he won’t allow himself to be bothered by Mayweather’s rants, stressing that he is taking a different approach in his bid to put a deal in place.
“I am not going to listen to what he’s (Mayweather) saying,” added Arum, who just turned 83. While Pacquiao has made it clear that money wont be an issue, it doesn’t follow that the eight-division title-holder will settle for crumbs, something Mayweather badly wants to happen.
Mayweather earned a whopping and record-breaking $41.5 million against Mexican pride Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in Sept. 2013. Alvarez, in contrast, got $5 million.
In his rematch with Argentina’s Marcos Maidana a few months ago, Mayweather earned $32 million (exclusive of PPV and other revenue-generating schemes), while his foe got $5 million.
Mayweather also pocketed the same amount in the first fight with Maidana, who received a measly $1.5 million.