• Welterweight

Pacquiao promoter proposes Floyd money compromise

Contractual wrangling threatens to stop Floyd Mayweather Jr v Manny Pacquiao from happening © Getty Images

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Manny Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum has put forward a potential solution to how to distribute money between his charge and Floyd Mayweather Jr, in a bid to end the impasse over a fight.

For a long time the stumbling block to a contest was Mayweather's demand for Olympic-style drug testing in the run-up to the bout - a request that Pacquiao is now said to be willing to accept, having initially objected.

The new problem is how to share out the pay-per-view cash between the pair. When they spoke on the phone earlier this year, Mayweather reportedly said he would take home all the pay-per-view pot, and offered Pacquiao a flat $40 million fee, which was rejected.

Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, which has helped to promote Mayweather fights in recent years, feels the unbeaten American is right to demand the majority of the pay-per-view money, while Arum disputes this.

"I think he should get the lion's share," Schaefer said to HBO. "And I think fair is fair. I think what we should do is have one of the big three accounting firms account the last fights, going back to let's say 2007, since we've been involved with Floyd Mayweather, account the pay-per-view numbers, account the live gates, accumulate all of these numbers.

"If you do the same with Pacquiao, and then you see what kind of ratio it is. If, in fact, they're the same, they produce the same amount of pay-per-views, the same amount of live-gate revenues, then you know what? Yes, it should be a 50-50 split. But if they don't, then why should it?"

Arum said: "Manny Pacquiao has now taken the position, which I endorse, [that] if Floyd Mayweather thinks that he is the greatest fighter of all time, let's do it 45% to Mayweather, 45% to Pacquiao and 10% to the winner. But we've got to have parity. If Mayweather really believes that he can beat Pacquiao, which I don't think he believes, he'll pick up more than 50% that way. But it's up to Floyd."

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