Source: abs-cbnnews.com
-- Top Rank boss Bob Arum is currently in the Philippines to talk to seven-time world boxing champ Manny Pacquiao into sealing the deal for the much-awaited fight with former pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Mayweather has reportedly acceded to terms for a welterweight title fight with the Filipino superstar at 147 lbs.
"I'm obviously over here to talk to Manny," Arum told LAtimes.com. "At this point, I've got to find out what my fighter wants to do."
Arum reportedly wanted to avoid “complications” similar to what happened during the negotiations for the Pacquiao fight against British champ Ricky Hatton last May.
Arum flew to the Philippines to personally meet with Pacquiao and his advisors.
"Bob will sit there and walk everybody through it, so Manny has a full grasp of the situation," said Arum's lead matchmaker, Bruce Trampler.
Arum has so far negotiated with Mayweather's designated promoter, Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions.
Schedule complications
Among the issues that would have to be settled for a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight to push through is the fight date.
Arum doubts a March 13 fight as Pacquiao has already filed his certificate of candidacy for Congress in May 2010.
The campaign for local candidates starts on March 26, but candidates usually start campaigning even before the official period starts.
Even Pacquiao’s coach, Freddie Roach, wants a later date to allow his ward to fully recuperate from his hard fight against Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto.
"March 13 is too fast a turnaround," Roach told LATimes.com. "Manny has a broken [right] eardrum" suffered in the Cotto fight. "I'd like to have more time. I hope the fight happens, yes, but I want us to be in the best possible shape."
Roach prefers a Pacquiao-Mayweather bout on May 1.
Roach also believes Pacquiao should get the bigger slice of the pie for his successful fight against Cotto.
The fight, which generated 1.25 million pay-per-view buys, saw Pacquiao stopping Cotto in the 12th round for the World Boxing Organization welterweight title.
"Manny believes he should get a 60-40 [purse] split, too, because he did better in pay-per-view than Mayweather this year. Manny's the bigger draw," he said.
Unlike Pacquiao, Mayweather’s comeback fight against former Pacquiao opponent Juan Manuel Marquez pulled in a “smaller” draw.
The one-sided fight against Marquez generated 1.05 million PPV sales.
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