Manny Pacquiao throws a left at Floyd Mayweather Jr. during their welterweight unification championship bout on May 2, 2015 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo : Al Bello/Getty Images)
The boxing world awaits the big September fights which will feature its supposed next star Canelo Alvarez, but Manny Pacquiao's next fight on November 5 is also generating controversy.
The Filipino boxing legend has been more active outside the ring (since he has technically retired) and is now a Senator in his native land. However, he still decided to make a return to the ring where he still claimed his biggest victories.
While this is supposed to be good news for fight fans, his arch-nemesis is insinuating that Pacman's motive for returning is not that noble.
Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is actually expressing concern for his former rival when he talked to ES News (h/t Fight Saga) about what he believes to be Pacquiao's huge dilemma. Money May believes Pacquiao is already broke and he blames Pacman's promoter and management team.
"Your team," Floyd Mayweather stated to ESNews. "It's all about who you surround yourself with. Who is his promoter? It's all about surrounding yourself with the right people and making smart investments."
To be specific, Mayweather was discussing Manny's take-home pay on their fight in 2015, which was the biggest fight in history in terms of financial revenues. Pacquao was reportedly due $150 million for that fight. According to former Pacquiao trainer Alex Ariza, Manny took less than that-much less.
"I know he didn't make $150 million," strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza stated to ESNews a few weeks ago. "I saw Manny's check. He didn't make $150 million...I know he didn't make that much. When I say I saw the check, I literally saw Manny's check. He made maybe a tenth of that. Floyd was shocked at what he got."
Mayweather then mentioned that he initially offered Pacquiao $40 million and suggested he leave Bob Arum's fold. "I gave him the option before when I talked to him about fighting the first time," stated Mayweather, concerning a phone conversation with the Pacman in 2012. "I think I offered him $40 million at that time? I told him I would wire him $20 million within 48 hours. At that particular time he said he wanted 50/50, and he got off the phone."
If Mayweather and Ariza's claims are true, Pacman definitely lost money since he only took around $15 million. Floyd then laments on how the boxers should be the one taking the bulk of the profits.
"I genuinely care about these fighters. The fighters are going out there taking all of the chances...broken ribs, bloody noses, cut eyes. The fighters have to go through this. There's no reason why everyone around the fighter should be living well, while the fighter isn't."
This insinuation coincides with the comments of Max Kellerman of ESPN First Take which were refuted by Jessie Vargas, Pacquiao's next opponent (h/t Boxing News 24). Kellerman criticized Pacquiao for choosing Vargas stating that Pacman chose Vargas over undefeated Terence Crawford because he's only fighting for money rather than for the sport.
Kellerman believes that Vargas was the "easier choice" rather than Crawford, the reason is that Pacquiao's last victim, Tim Bradley, already beat Vargas.
"People can say what they want to say," said Vargas to Thaboxingvoice.com. "Sometimes there are comments from people that are actually boxing analysts such as Max Kellerman. Sometimes he says things that are very ignorant. It's just stupidity. It doesn't make sense that he always wants to take credit away from me as I'm coming into a fight. Yeah, I'm going to beat him. You're saying if Jessie Vargas beats him, he's all washed up. But if it were some other guy, 'Oh, he's the next superstar."
Pacquiao did not announce that this is his last fight and he needs a win in order to get a higher purse on his next fight. That is the assumed motivation for the choice.
Is Pacman really broke? Does he need the money that bad or is Mayweather just looking for a chance to diss Bob Arum again?
