Underdog Boxing: Is a 50-50 split fair for Pacquiao and Mayweather?

There are a bunch of reasons why the dream fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather has not happened yet. The issues about where and when the fight will be held and the kind of drug testing that will take place are just a few of the many reasons. But as of the moment, the biggest roadblock to making the fights seems to be about the money. A few months ago, news writers from the Philippines quoted Pacquiao when he said that he is willing to take the smaller purse. Then a few days back, Mayweather and Pacquiao talked on the phone where Pacquiao said that he has no problems taking the fight as long as they split the purse down the middle. After that conversation, the boxing world suddenly felt that there is a possibility that the fight is going to be made. The two fighters talked and they seemed to have agreed to make the fight. However, that little glimmer of hope is dead again. In an interview with ESPN Mayweather said “He (Pacquiao) asked about a 50/50 split, and I told him no that can't happen. But what could happen is you can make more money fighting me than you made in your career.” Mayweather’s contention centers on his pay-per-view selling capabilities. In his last five fights Mayweather was able to sell 2.4 million against Oscar de la Hoya, 920,000 against Ricky Hatton, 1.05 against Juan Manuel Marquez, 1.4 million against Shane Mosley, and 1.25 million against Victor Ortiz. Pacquiao on the other hand has sold 1.25 million against Miguel Cotto, 700,000 against Clottey, 1.15 million against Antonio Margarito, 1.3 against Mosley, and 1.45 million against Marquez. Summing everything up, Mayweather has sold more than 7 million pay-per-views while Pacquiao sold less than 6 million, both in their last five fights. If however you take their last seven fights into consideration which includes Pacquiao’s fights against de la Hoya which sold 1.25 million and against Hatton which sold 800,000 and Mayweather’s fights against Carlos Baldomir and Zab Judah then their buys are almost equal. If you ask me, a 50-50 split is fair. Both fighters will only make this kind of money against each other. But we can’t expect Mayweather to understand this. He thinks he is the savior of boxing. He thinks he has no peer, so in his own mind, no one deserves an equal share of the pie with him. The only solution here, at least in my opinion, is a 55-50 split. Give both fighters the expected amount to make Pacquiao happy then bump off Mayweather’s split a bit further to satisfy his ego. This is a sane solution that will make everybody happy. The problem though is that sane solutions are really not the expertise of the people involved in making this fight. Parties would rather go on an all out publicity war rather than to sit down and try to hammer out a deal that will finally make this fight a reality. -- OMG, GMA News