Mayweather on Pacquiao fight: 'I'm not giving up the split'

Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr. told Bob Costas on the NBC Sports show “Costas Tonight” last Sunday that he would not budge on the issue of the revenue split a potential Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight would bring in. "I gave this sport my whole life and I've been in this sport…dominating. I have record breaking numbers that I've done. He has no record breaking numbers. With or without Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather is okay….Because when your career is over and is all said and done, I have to be happy and have to be comfortable." Mayweather’s statement is in response to the latest deal-breaker in what many feel is the most anticipated bout in boxing history. Mayweather offered Pacquiao a flat $40 million to fight him, which the Sarangani congressman turned down. In the above deal, Mayweather would receive the entire pay-per-view revenue, which some experts believe can reach as high as $150 million. Said Mayweather, "I tried to get it done for May 5th. It would have been Mayweather versus Pacquiao but I got turned down….How my deal is structured at this particular time in the sport of boxing, I keep 100 percent of the revenue. So why would I even give a guy 50-50 if I'm out there?" "I come first, self-preservation. I put myself first….If the fight happens, it do [sic]. Do I want the fight to happen? Absolutely, but if it don't, so be it." Earlier in the interview, Mayweather said that he thought Pacquiao had lost in his previous fight to Juan Manuel Marquez, but that the judges had ruled in the Pac-Man's favor because "we understand what goes on in the business world. If Pacquiao takes a loss then the very lucrative fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather is not what it could be." Mayweather then compared his situation to that of legend Muhammad Ali, saying that he wouldn't take fights based solely on the fact that fans demanded certain bouts. Doing so, he said, would be detrimental to his health, in the sense that he would not be receiving proper financial compensation to make it worth his while. "If Ali could trade it all in, for once again, the fans and the people were pushing him to get in certain fights that he shouldn't have even been involved with. They pushed him, because they wanted to see it, because of what they wanted. It was not what Ali wanted, it was what they wanted. And if Ali could trade it in right now for his health, he would." "I'm in the game to win, not just in the ring, but outside the ring. And my health is more important than anything." When asked by Costas if that made him "scared," Mayweather replied in the negative, saying: "I don't fear no man. I don't fear nothing. And so if you are insinuating that I'm a scared fighter then why would you want to watch a scared fighter?" "Can no fighter beat Floyd Mayweather [sic]. And if the Pacquiao fight present itself, and everything is in order like it should be, I'll be victorious. He had a chance to step up to the plate, if you had done your homework, May in the past, Pacquiao has said, you know what, I would take less money but I didn't want to do the drug test. Now he's saying I will do the drug test, but I want 50-50. Like I said, it is what it is." Ultimately though, "Money" right now has his thoughts trained on his May 5 opponent, Miguel Cotto, but after that fight, all bets are off. "If the Pacquiao fight presents itself, we'll take it," he said. Mayweather versus Cotto will be on May 5 (May 6, PHL time) for Cotto's WBA light-middleweight crown at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, while Pacquiao takes on Timothy Bradley Jr., with the former's WBO Welterweight title at stake on June 9 (June 10, PHL time) at the same venue. — JVP, GMA News

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